REGIONAL— Here in the North Country, the winter that officially ended on Feb. 28 could be described as drier than normal, with a roller coaster ride of temperatures that ended up right about average.
Official meteorological winter runs from Dec. 1-Feb. 28, even though it tends to linger well into March and often April here in northeastern Minnesota. It remains to be seen how long it will hang on this year, although the Climate Prediction Center’s 8-14-day outlook, which runs through March 23, points to colder-than-average temperatures and slightly above-normal precipitation, which suggests there’s likely more of the white stuff in our future.
But while winter conditions may be seen as a mere inconvenience for the region’s human population, for white-tailed deer, it’s a matter of survival. And barring any major and lingering snow events, this season could well wrap up as the third relatively mild winter for the region’s deer population. While the region saw typical temperatures this winter, the relatively limited snow cover through most of the season should have been good news for white-tailed deer.
According to Jessica Holmes, the Tower area DNR wildlife manager, the DNR’s winter severity index, or WSI, is currently sitting at between 50 and 60 in most parts of the region, a number that suggests another mild-moderate winter. Holmes notes that the numbers do vary around the region, with areas from the Iron Range south coming in on the milder side, especially with snowfall. She said many farm fields in the Sax-Zim area are clear of snow and are providing good feeding conditions for deer.
Meanwhile, closer to the border, she said there are still areas with more than 15 inches of snow on the ground. The DNR’s WSI adds a point for every day with a low temperature of zero or colder and a point for every day with a snow depth of 15 inches or greater, so some areas are still adding points to their WSI. Areas closer to the North Shore also saw significantly more snow this year and those areas have racked up the WSI points to show for it. Some higher terrain in Cook County is running close to 100 points, which is closer to typical winter conditions.
But that’s not the case elsewhere in the region. While a major snowstorm or an extended cold outbreak with several days of below zero temperatures could still add noticeably to the WSI, this winter looks increasingly likely to wind up milder than average.
That’s in line with another winter conditions index climate junkies should check out, known as the Accumulated Winter Season Severity Index, or AWSSI, produced by the Midwest Regional Climate Center at Purdue. The index tracks several factors, including high and low temperatures, snowfall, and snow depth, on a daily basis and assesses the winter season cumulatively. The center calculates the AWSSI for International Falls and Duluth and the current reading for the border city is 1,545, which is on the line between mild and moderate. You can explore the index for yourself here: https://mrcc.purdue.edu/research/awssi.
The deer population has been struggling to recover from back-to-back deep snow winters in the early 2020s, so the string of milder winters is welcome news for deer hunters. The deer harvest was up 14 percent in northeastern Minnesota this past fall, and that was on top of a nine percent increase in 2024. It’s unclear however, whether a third mild winter, by itself, will prompt the DNR to loosen bag limits in the region, which have largely been limited to bucks-only the past three years. Holmes said she’ll be undertaking a “deep dive” into the data for each of the deer permit areas she oversees to determine if any changes in bag limits are warranted for next hunting season. She expects to have a better sense of that by mid-to-late April.