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Severe Thunderstorms in the Central U.S.; Upper Level Low Over California

Scattered severe thunderstorms are possible today across central and eastern Minnesota, Iowa, and western Wisconsin. A few tornadoes, isolated very large hail, and damaging winds may occur. An upper level low will help trigger scattered thunderstorms over portions of central and southern California today along with a few inches of snow in the central Sierra Nevadas. Read More >

If you felt like there wasn't much of a winter in northeast Kansas, you weren't alone, and the statistics bear it out.  Climate records over 128 years in Topeka show it to be one of the warmest and least snowy cold seasons on record.

For meteorological record keeping, December, January and February comprise the Winter months.  For that three month period, the average temperature was 37.1 degrees.  This made it the 5th warmest winter on record in Topeka.  The warmest occured in the winter of 1991-92 when the temperature averaged 38.6 degrees.

Just 4 years ago, the very mild cold season of 2011-12 set the record for the least amount of snow in Topeka, with only 3.1 inches measured from October through May.  For the cold season that just ended, we received only 4.9 inches, which makes it the 5th lowest snowfall total for a cold season.

See below for a listing of the 20 warmest winters, and 20 least snowy cold seasons on record in Topeka.

1. 20 Least Snowy Cold Seasons at Topeka            2. 20 Warmest Winters at Topeka (Dec,Jan,Feb)