MINNEAPOLIS — It’s a record that’s stood for nearly 150 years – the Twin Cities’ warmest winter. In 1877 to 1878, the Twin Cities averaged 29 degrees between the months of December and February. It’s stood as the warmest winter on record since then.
“It’s like one of those things – it’s like winning the Super Bowl on winters,” said Minnesota DNR Climatologist Pete Boulay. “You always compare to that winter when we have a warm winter.”
It’s been an extremely warm winter so far, but according to record books, it hasn’t been the warmest.
According to historians, the winter of 1877-1878 was unlike any other winter in Minnesota history.
“The weather was unprecedented, untimely, unpleasant, unpopular, and unboreal,” said Bill Convery, Director of Research at the Minnesota Historical Society.
Researchers like Convery still have the articles detailing the warmest Twin Cities winter of all time.
“Certainly newspapers are interested in reporting on this really interesting weather pattern,” he said. “It was disrupting the economy. It was disrupting farming, and timbering.”