Sunday’s Almanac (12/15/2024)

Temperatures were mild today for mid-December standards across southeastern Minnesota and northern Iowa. But are the temperatures we saw today that noteworthy when comparing them to past temperatures on December 15th?

The high today in Rochester, MN was 35F, with the morning low being 32F. Not much of a temperature fluctuation throughout the day! The average high for December 15th is 28F, while the average low is 14F. Our observed high was decently above the average high, while our observed low was well above the average low.

When comparing these temperatures to past records, they are not anything special in the grand scheme of things. In fact, just 3 short years ago on this date, Rochester reached a record breaking 64F!!! Nearly 40F above the long term average!

Not only was December 15th, 2021 a significant day temperature wise locally, but it was for severe weather as well. Very foggy conditions, not unlike what we saw today, hung across the area into the afternoon hours. These foggy and warm conditions were followed by one of the most significant severe thunderstorm outbreaks in Minnesota history.

A powerful bowing line of severe thunderstorms swept across Iowa and southern Minnesota, bringing dozens of damaging wind and tornado reports. Such an intense event ended up going down in the record books as one of the most intense December severe thunderstorm outbreaks on record across the entire country!

On the flip side, the record low for this time of year was a unbearable -30F, set back in 1919. While both sides of the coin are quite extreme, I think most would rather have the bone chilling cold than an outbreak of tornadoes sweeping across southeastern Minnesota and northern Iowa when snow is supposed to be on the ground!

Speaking of snow…would sure be nice to have some on the ground by this point in the month huh? Alas, major precipitation events have been very hard to come by the last several months, and that trend does not look to change anytime soon. We are currently 5.6″ below average in snowfall here in Rochester, and almost 11″ behind average for the snow season.

There are snow chances in the forecast, but odds of us catching up to the average snowfall for this time of year anytime soon, are rather slim.