REGIONAL— An extraordinary weather anomaly this past week left area snowmobile trails a mess, thawed swamps and streams, and disappointed many winter enthusiasts.

It was a dramatic turnaround after heavy snow and seasonably cold temperatures in early January had helped get winter recreation underway in earnest. While January thaws aren’t unusual, a day or two with highs in the mid-to-upper thirties is more typical here in the North Country, and they rarely have much impact on snow cover.

But this was no ordinary warmup. “It was the longest January thaw ever in International Falls,” said State Climatologist Pete Boulay. The border city, which recorded seven straight days of above-average high temperatures, has the longest period of weather records north of Duluth, which makes it the best gauge of weather anomalies in the North Country. The previous January record was six straight days of above-freezing highs.

The thaw was record-setting in other parts of the state, as well. In the Twin Cities, even overnight low temperatures remained above freezing for four consecutive nights, beating the old record. St. Cloud also set a record with three straight nights of above-freezing low temperatures.

The record warm-up took a big bite from the snowpack. And more significantly for area snowmobile trails, the warm weather allowed some swamps that had previously frozen to thaw, and that is causing problems for trail groomers.

“They’re in rough shape, I’ll tell you that,” said Gary “Curly” Skogman, who grooms trails for the Vermilion Penguins Snowmobile Club.

Skogman, who has learned the hard way about the hazards of grooming over inadequately frozen swamps, said he’s just turned around in some cases. He noted that the Lost Lake Swamp, which had finally frozen, had mostly opened up again after a week of exceptionally mild weather.

Trail conditions on higher ground are quite a bit better, said Skogman. “There’s enough snow there that it will still groom up pretty good. If nobody goes on it and it freezes up, it will be like a highway.”

The Department of Natural Resources is currently listing the Arrowhead and Taconite trails as “fair-to-poor,” with trouble spots mostly in swamps and stream crossings. Tower Area Trails Manager Joe Majerus said their trail grooming crew will be working hard over the next several days to try to get the trails back in usable shape. He said his trail crew was hoping to hit portions of the Arrowhead Trail in the Lost Lake Swamp on Thursday, but wasn’t sure what they would find. “We’ll have to check the ice to make sure it’s safe,” he said. The DNR has had groomers fall through more than once in the Lost Lake Swamp, where water movement and springs slow ice development.

Even on high ground, trail groomers will face challenges. “Everything was just slush and really got pounded over this past weekend,” said Majerus. “We’re going to see if we can bring it back.”

Cooler weather that set in as of Tuesday has helped stiffen conditions somewhat, but Majerus said it remains to be seen if groomers will be able to repair bare spots and cover the many rocks exposed along trails. The area still maintains anywhere from 12-22 inches of snow cover on the ground, according to the DNR, but on area trails, that base has eroded down to 1-3 inches.

High temperatures for the weekend are expected to drop into the upper teens and low twenties, with lows in the single digits. But no significant snow is in the ten-day forecast. The normal lows in the region this time of year range from minus-5 to minus-12, with normal highs in the mid-teens.