Is winter over?

More snow

coming on the heels of the warmest winter in recent memory

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM---Anyone planning to go sledding one more time might have another chance if the current weather forecasts come true.

The National Weather Service is predicting snowfall as early as tonight straight through to the weekend. Low temperatures and quick winds are supposed to come with that predicted snow.

Go figure.

The predictions come on the heels of what was the warmest winter on record in recent memory. Temperatures in February averaged 26.9 degrees without one day below zero. The only temperatures to beat that average came in 1930 and 1931, when the average was 27 degrees.

Jim Richardson, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Chanhassen, said the warmth was nothing unusual. For the past month and a half, he said, a cold front sat in Canada blocked by westerly winds. When those winds shifted, the front came down into the U.S. and swept away the seemingly unusual warm temperatures.

"If it was over us in December, it would've been much colder," Richardson said. "It's been a very warm winter. It's been cold in Canada and Alaska because the wind has moved west all winter, and now it's finally changed."

Other parts of the Midwest have had winter weather worse than Minnesota. A winter storm Saturday reached from Michigan's Upper Peninsula to Texas, causing more than 500 traffic accidents in cities like Chicago and Dallas and about 150 flight cancellations in both cities.

The storm began Friday near Colorado. Fourteen inches of snow were reported in Eldorado Springs, a few miles northwest of Denver. Temperatures there fell below zero. Most of Oklahoma was under a winter weather advisory by Saturday. Tulsa, Okla., reported 6 inches by Saturday night. Des Moines, Iowa, had 5 inches before the storm began to leave the state.

Snow was still falling in Grand Rapids, Mich., Saturday night. Eleven inches of snow was on the ground and three more inches were expected overnight.

At least five traffic deaths--in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and Wisconsin--were blamed on the storm.

Temperatures in New Ulm are expected to rise gradually this coming week. The NWS forecast predicts temperatures to start below zero today with highs around 15 degrees. By Monday, highs are supposed to shoot up into the 20s. They are expected to climb into the mid-30s by Tuesday and stay there until Saturday.

Despite the rising temperatures, however, the NWS also expects "a chance of snow".

"It will still be cold enough to snow," Richardson said. "The best chance for snow is north of the Twin Cities."

Lonnie Spaeth, a local weather observer for the NWS, said the New Ulm area got a total 10 inches of snow this winter.

NWS records indicate that an average of about three inches of snow fell around New Ulm during the winter months. The records say a total of about 62 inches of snow fell last year, marking a five-year high, according to the reports. The New Ulm area saw an average snowfall of about 30 inches a year up to that point. The warmest February on record in the New Ulm area was in 1987, when the highest temperature was 45.8 degrees.

When asked if this winter was part of some kind of weather cycle, Richardson said, "That's hard to determine. I wouldn't say it's a cycle."

Spaeth had nothing to add.

"I have nothing to say except it's way different than last year," he said. "This year, there is no winter."