The meteorological autumn (September-November) of 2005 was a mild one in the Twin Cities. Despite cooler air during the last two days of November, fall of 2005 wound up in a three-way tie for 6th place. The table below offers the rank of the meteorological autumn on the left. So what happens in the meteorological (December-February) winters following these top ten warm autumns? Bitterly cold winters just weren't in the cards. Nearly all of the top ten warm autumns were followed by mild winters, with only one a bit chiller than the long term 114 year average.

Top ten September-November mean temperatures for the Twin Cities 
and the ranking of the winters that followed them. 

Rank    Value      Year   Rank of following winter 
                          (mean Dec-Feb temperature from 1891-2004)
--------------------------------------------------------- 
1       54.4       1931   11th warmest (tie with 1918-19) 
2       52.9       1953   19th warmest
        52.9       1922   70th warmest (45th coldest)
        52.9       1963   42nd warmest (tie with 1939-40)
5       51.9       2001   1st place tie with 1930-31
6       51.7       2005   ???
        51.7       1920   7th warmest
        51.7       2004   16th warmest
9       51.6       1998   17th warmest (tie with 1957-58)
10      51.5       1994   20th warmest

*estimated

Return to Minnesota Climatology Working Group Main page

Error processing SSI file

URL: http://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/toptenfall05.htm
Last modified: December 1, 2005