REGIONAL— The North Country experienced its warmest autumn in more than 60 years and the second warmest on record, continuing a recent pattern of exceptionally warm fall seasons over the past few years.
Based on data from International Falls airport, which has the longest period of record in northeastern Minnesota, this year’s meteorological autumn, which runs from Sept. 1-Nov. 30, averaged 46.9 degrees F, or 6.4 degrees above average for the three-month period.
That’s just a half-degree cooler than the all-time warmest autumn in the border city, set in 1963, when the average temperature for the period clocked in at 47.4 degrees. It replaces the previous second warmest autumn on record, set in 2016 with an average temperature of 46.3 degrees F.
The region has seen a streak of above-average autumns since 2021, when International Falls recorded its fifth warmest season on record. That was followed by autumns in the top 20 warmest in 2022 and 2023, although nearly two weeks of missing data in 2023 puts a caveat on the record for October that year.
“There have been a lot of recent years in the top ten,” noted Pete Boulay, a state climatologist with the Department of Natural Resources.
Recent data analyses conducted by the climatology office have found that the month of September is one of two months that have seen the most significant warming in recent years as a result of climate change. According to Boulay, 11 of the 24 autumns experienced in International Falls since 2000 have been in the top third in the historical record for warmth.
This autumn’s warm spell continued until the final five days of the month, when daily temperatures in the region dipped below average for the first time in more than three weeks.
The latest 8-14 day outlook shows above average temperatures building in the western U.S., although temperatures are expected to remain near normal in the eastern half of Minnesota. The average high in Tower on Dec. 6 is 24.8 degrees F, with an average low of 4.9 degrees.