Significant Heat in the Northwest U.S.; Tropical Rainfall Potential in the Southwest U.S.

A significant late season heat wave continues in the interior Pacific Northwest for at least one more day before easing somewhat Friday into Saturday. A combination of monsoonal moisture and tropical moisture ahead of tropical cyclone Lorena will bring a marginal to slight risk of excessive rainfall across the southwest U.S. through Saturday which may bring areas of flooding. Read More >

	A weather pattern developed in the middle of December 2013 that allowed for waves of arctic air to funnel into the Northland. As of the end of January, this stubborn northerly flow has not let up.
However, even though the cold has been persistent and averages well below normal, only a few daily temperature records have been reached at International Falls, MN. The Duluth, MN Airport has not set any new daily temperature records so far this winter.

Top 10 Coldest January (average monthly temperature)
International Falls, MN Rank Value Year 1 -10.5 1982 2 -10.4 1966 3 -8.7 1979 4 -8.0 1950 5 -7.8 1994 6 -7.1 1971 7 -6.5 1924 8 -5.9 1909 9 -5.8 1977 10 -5.7 1972 17th January 2014: -3.7 F	Photo by Brad Nelson	Duluth, MN Rank Value Year 1 -7.2 1912 2 -3.2 1982 3 -2.7 1875 4 -2.6 1929 5 -2.1 1994 6 -1.9 1885 7 -1.2 1966 8 -0.1 1977 9 0.2 1972 10 0.5 1979,1971 18th January 2014: 1.6 F

Average Temperatures So Far This Winter

International Falls, MN
    December 2014: -4.1 F    (30 year Normal: 9.7 F)
    January 2014: -3.7 F       (30 year Normal: 4.4 F; Record Coldest Jan: -10.5 F in 1981)
    February:                            (30 year Normal: 10.3 F)
    Winter:                                (30 year Normal:  8.1 F)

Duluth, MN
    December 2014: 4.6 F     (30 year Normal: 14.8 F)
    January 2014: 1.6 F         (30 year Normal:  10.2 F; Record Coldest Jan: -7.2 F in 1912)
    February:                            (30 year Normal: 15.1 F)
    Winter:                                (30 year Normal: 13.3 F)

Daily Temperature Records Set this Winter

International Falls, MN

Duluth, MN

December 15th: -32 F   (low temp)
December 23rd: -24 F   (low temp)
January 1st: -39 F    (low temp)
January 2nd: -43 F    (low temp)
January 5th: -18 F   (cold, High temp)

on January 2nd, the International Falls, MN Airport ended a 5 day streak of recording a daily low temperature of -33 F or colder. This is the longest streak of seeing a daily temperature this low since records began at International Falls.

on January 9th, the Duluth MN Airport ended a 36 day streak of recording a daily low temperature in the single digits or colder. This is the 6th longest streak of seeing a daily temperature of less than 10 F in recorded record at Duluth.

Find climatological normals for other locations and time periods here

Below are links to January
Temp/Snowfall Summaries

Below are links to summaries of low temperatures/wind chills observed in January

Duluth, MN
     International Falls, MN
    Brainerd, MN
    Embarrass, MN
    Cook, MN
    Park Falls, WI

Note: the daily Max and Min Temperature are a 24 hour reading that resets each day at midnight.

January 5th, 2014
January 6th, 2014
January 7th, 2014
January 27th, 2014

Note: These values are not necessarily the lowest values for the date.

The period of record for the official temperature record at Duluth, MN began in 1874. The current observation site is located at the Duluth Airport (5 miles inland from Lake Superior and 600 ft higher than the Duluth Harbor). However, the site of the weather observation has been moved throughout the years and the climate data has been "threaded together. More information on Threaded Climate Data Here

The period of record for the official temperature record at International Falls, MN began in 1897. The current observation site is located at the International Falls, Airport. However, the site of the weather observation has been moved throughout the years and the climate data has been "threaded together. More information on Threaded Climate Data Here

DLH RSS Feed

Significant Heat in the Northwest U.S.; Tropical Rainfall Potential in the Southwest U.S.

Coldest January in past 20 years for the Northland