Following a major late winter storm which dumped 17.2 inches of snow in Duluth and as much as 22 inches in other parts of Northern Minnesota, Saturday dawned record cold beneath clear skies, light winds, fresh snow cover and arctic air in place.Temperatures Saturday morning plummeted to -14F at Embarrass in the Minnesota Arrowhead region (NE corner) while Ely hit -8. The well known ice box of the nation, International Falls hit 4. Duluth 11, St Cloud 16 and Minneapolis-St Paul 21. All of these lows broke previous record lows for April 20.

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Cold records fell in neighbouring North Dakota too. Langdon in northern ND plunged to -2, although the site has moved, this would be considered the latest sub-zero low here since 1987 according to Daryl Ritchison.

 

The cold of spring 2013 will be well remembered across the Northern Plains for massive snowstorms as well as bitter cold. Both Rapid City, SD and Bismarck, ND saw the most snow from any one storm in recorded history during the early part of April with over 22 inches falling.

Fargo, ND has yet to see a temperature above 43 this year. The previous latest 50 was way back on April 17, 1881 when the high finally surpassed 50, hitting 57. Impressive to think it’s yet to surpass 43, never mind 50 and it’s April 21.

The unusual chill broke records all the way to the Gulf Coast. The Texas capital of Austin hit a record 33. This was also the coldest so late, in recorded history. Houston dipped to a record 39. In Victoria, well to the SW of Houston, near to the Gulf Coast, the low hit a record 37.

In Louisiana, Shreveport and Baton Rouge hit a record 38 and 39 respectively.

Friday morning was also a cold one over Texas with parts of the Panhandle, SW of Amarillo fell into the 10s with records set in Amarillo, Dalhart and Borger. Lubbock’s record low of 25 was the coldest so late in the season.

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