It started snowing again today. At first the snow was a light snow that reminded me of “Stranger Things” other world type of snow. But now it’s turned into a full on snow storm with a forecasted total of 6 inches accumulated when it’s all over. In Minnesota six inches isn’t out of the ordinary, but on October 20th it’s pretty much out of the norm. As a kid I don’t remember it snowing this early in the year, except for the big Halloween blizzard of 1991 which any Minnesotan over the age of 35 will gladly tell you about.
I was curious about how early it usually snows in Minnesota so I looked back over some weather timelines as well as my own social media feeds and found that over past couple of years it has snowed early in October – almost like clockwork. They’ve all been pretty light but snow that doesn’t stick around when it’s this early in the year but seeing snow in October can really be brutal on your mood.
List of Minnesota snow records
During my in depth research of early snowfalls I found this table on Wikipedia with the list of Minnesota weather records. Here’s the snow records with the earliest recorded snowfall being August 31.
| Event[3] | Measurement | Date | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Earliest recorded snow[1] | Trace | August 31, 1949 | Duluth |
| Earliest measurable snow | 0.3 inch (1 cm) | September 14, 1964 | International Falls |
| Latest recorded snow | 1.5 inches (4 cm) | June 4, 1935 | Mizpah |
| Most snow, 24 hours | 36 inches (91 cm) | January 7, 1994 | Lake County |
| Most snow, one storm | 47 inches (119 cm) | January 6–8, 1994 | Lake County |
| Most snow, one month[7] | 66 inches (168 cm) | March, 1965 | Collegeville |
| Most snow, season | 170 inches (432 cm) | 1949 – 1950 | Grand Portage State Park |
| Deepest snowpack[7] | 75 inches (191 cm) | March 28, 1950 | Pigeon River Bridge |
| Most fatalities, winter storm[8] | up to 200 | January 12–13, 1888 | Statewide |
As it’s “Stranger Things” snowing out I’m listening to Cattails by Big Thief. It’s has a very nice mellow sound that goes great with this kind of weather.