For those who love hiking, it’s been a fabulous winter. But skiers, snowshoers and snowmobilers are grousing about what is shaping up to be a record-breaking warm winter.
“Yes, we’ve had a bit of grumbling with our regular snowshoers and cross-country skiers,” said Liz Sheppard, naturalist at Ney Nature Center in Henderson. “It’s hard for the people who wish they had the snow so they could go out and engage in winter sports.
“But we’re also hearing from people who are happy to keep hiking this winter,” she said. “Everyone has their own preference. We did have a good turnout for our candlelight hiking event on Feb. 10, which normally would have been a candlelight cross-country skiing event.”
For those interested in winter sports, it’s been a tough year, Sheppard said. The nature center has only had one weekend where they were able to rent cross-country skiing and snowshoeing equipment. That was Feb. 17-18 and, even then, trails were “pretty thin on the 18th,” she said.
Michelle Margraf, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Chanhassen, said they had missing data points for Mankato, but this winter has been the warmest by far for the state. The NWS defines winter as being December through February.
For the Twin Cities, the average temperature was 29.9 degrees. Mankato had similar temperatures, Margraf said. The average winter temperature was 19.6 degrees, which is 10 degrees above normal for winter. “Which is staggering, to be that far above normal for a three-month period,” she said.
Due to the record-breaking temperatures, this is being called “the lost winter,” Margraf said.
Pete Boulay, climatologist with the Minnesota Department of Resources, said he too wishes he had better data for Mankato. In looking at nearby Waseca, the average temperature is 26.8 degrees. It falls just short of the 27-degree record in 1930-31.
As for the “why” of how we’ve arrived at such a warm winter, Boulay said “a lot of it has to do with El Nino. We have a strong El Nino.” And in general, the climate is changing, with trends being warmer over time. It is “good news, bad news” for folks, he said.
On one hand, homeowners are generally saving money on heating costs, Boulay said. But it’s bad news for those who favor winter recreation.
“It’s been dreadful, especially if you rely on it for your business,” he said. “And it’s been good hiking weather but bad snowmobiling weather.”
It surely hasn’t escaped anyone’s notice that this week we’ve had a wild swing in temperatures, going from 65 degrees on Monday to 13 degrees on Tuesday, which was a 52-degree drop.
“It’s definitely unusual to drop that much,” Margraf said.
As for those who have been bemoaning this year’s balmy winter temperatures, take heart. There’s always next year.
“We’re hoping to return to a snowier winter next year, though we’re happy to see people coming out and enjoying the park regardless of the presence of snow or lack thereof,” Sheppard said. “We are open for hiking and visiting 365 days a year.”
“Just because it’s warm this winter doesn’t mean next winter will be,” Boulay said. “We’ll see.”