Streak of Below Freezing Temperatures in the Twin Cities
On January 31, 2009 at 10am, the temperature rose to 32 degrees in the Twin Cities. This ended the streak of below freezing temperatures that started at 8AM December 29th, 2008. There were 33nd consecutive days of below freezing temperatures in the Twin Cities. At 33 days, this stretch tied for the 11th longest stretch of below freezing temperatures in the modern Twin Cities record. The last time there was a similar streak lasting 31 days was from January 18 to February 17, 2004.
The average temperature during this time has been 8.0 degrees representing a departure of 5.1 degrees below normal. The coldest temperature during this period was -22 on January 16th. The longest stretch of below freezing temperatures in the Twin Cities in the modern record since 1891 was 66 days during the winter of 1977-78.
In looking at pioneer-era records there was an even longer span of below freezing temperatures. From December 19, 1874 to March 9, 1875 the temperature remained below freezing in St. Paul for 98 days. With scant snow cover during that winter the frost depth was reported to be eight-and-a-half feet in places with water mains freezing. Hydrants were left running in places to prevent more water lines from freezing. The table below shows the 20 longest stretches of below freezing temperatures in the Twin Cities since 1891.
MSP 30 longest streaks of days with max temps <= 31
1 12/19/1977 to 2/22/1978 66
2 12/24/1978 to 2/19/1979 58
3 12/24/1911 to 2/13/1912 52
4 1/9/1929 to 2/25/1929 48
5 1/16/1904 to 2/26/1904 42
1/12/1936 to 2/22/1936 42
12/20/1939 to 1/30/1940 42
11/22/1983 to 1/2/1984 42
9 12/19/1969 to 1/24/1970 37
10 12/22/1981 to 1/26/1982 36
11 12/13/1968 to 1/14/1969 33
12/29/2008 to 1/30/2009 33 *
13 1/15/1985 to 2/15/1985 32
11/20/1985 to 12/21/1985 32
15 1/18/2004 to 2/17/2004 31
16 12/25/1917 to 1/23/1918 30
12/5/2000 to 1/3/2001 30
18 12/25/1976 to 1/22/1977 29
19 1/14/1937 to 2/10/1937 28
2/17/1960 to 3/15/1960 28
1/10/1966 to 2/6/1966 28