Warmth to cause more records to fall in north-central US this week

By Kristina Pydynowski, Senior Meteorologist

November 6,2016; 8:55PM,EDT

 

 

Unseasonable warmth will remain the theme across the north-central United States this week with more record highs set to fall on Wednesday.
The start of this November has felt more like a repeat of September across the north-central states. Highs in the 60s and 70s have been more common than the normal early November highs of the 40s and 50s.
Cooler air more typical of November will not return through at least midweek.
"High pressure setting up over the central U.S. will usher unseasonable air northward all the way into southern Canada this week," AccuWeather Meteorologist Eric Leister.

Unseasonably warm start to November

Departures from normal (Nov. 1-5)

Nov. 6, 1958

Last time Minneapolis recorded the first freeze of the season in November. The city has yet to record its first freeze this fall.

65.1 degrees

Average temperature from Sept. 1 to Nov. 5 in Des Moines, making this fall the warmest to date. Sept. 1 to Nov. 5, 1938, is second (64.5 degrees).

77 F

The highest temperature recorded in the first 5 days of November in Rapid City, South Dakota. The average high ranges from 53-55 F.

3

Times Pierre, South Dakota, has reached 80 F in recorded history, the most recent occurrence was on Saturday, Nov. 5.

"This high will also force storm systems northward into Canada, keeping cold air at bay."
As the high initially settles in, temperatures early this week will be throttled back from the record-challenging warmth ending this weekend.
However, highs will still remain 5 to as much as 15 degrees Fahrenheit above normal from Billings, Montana, and Rapid City, South Dakota, to Minneapolis.

Another surge of warmth will come at midweek with the high pressure to the south and winds blowing from the southwest.
Temperatures will soar into the 70s throughout eastern Montana, eastern Wyoming, northeastern Colorado and to the Dakotas.
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Billings and Rapid City will join Denver; Pierre and Aberdeen, South Dakota; Bismarck, North Dakota; and even northward to Winnipeg, Canada, in challenging record highs.
Des Moines, Iowa, and Minneapolis will also turn milder at midweek, but not to the record levels as places to the west.

Abundant sunshine will greet residents enjoying outdoor activities that may not commonly occur this time of year.
The passage of a cold front will once again trim temperatures across the north-central states later this week.
Around the Mississippi River, it will finally feel more like early November. The core of the December-like cold in the wake of this front will be directed at the Great Lakes and Northeast.
While such a feat has already occurred in the northern High Plains, the impending cold shot could bring the first freezing temperature to many communities in the Midwest.
Des Moines may narrowly escape registering temperatures so low, which would cause the city to set a record for the latest first temperature reading of 32 F or lower. The previous record is Nov. 13, 2015.