Minnesota Is Now Home To Second-Most Extreme Weather In U.S.
In a year when our weather has made a lot of headlines, is it much of a surprise to learn that a survey says our weather here in Minnesota is the second-most extreme in the country?
One of the cool things about living here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes is that we get to experience all four seasons-- sometimes all in the same day, or week, right? Our constantly changing seasons, and the ability to experience all of them, is certainly unique to our neck of the woods.
Why, how boring it must be to have weather that's the same all year long-- like they do in parts of southern California (like San Diego) where it's sunny with high temperatures in the 60s or low 70s every day! Who wants that?!?
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Besides, being able to make it through a winter where our temperatures routinely dip below zero, as well as sweating our way through a hot, humid stretch of July weather is kind of a feather in our cap in Minnesota, right?
Plus, given the strange winter we just went through, with its distinct lack of snow and typical cold weather, only furthers the case that the North Star State is home to some extreme weather. Many cities set a LOT of weather records this past winter. In fact, Minnesota's third-largest city, Rochester, notched 12 days with new record-high temperatures between January and March of 2024.
That's likely why Minnesota has been ranked #2 on this list of the US States With The Most Extreme Weather. It was compiled by the air filter company Filterbuy, using data from the National Centers for Environmental Information. Here's the criteria they used:
"Researchers created an extreme weather score based on each state’s all-time maximum and minimum temperatures, maximum 24-hour precipitation, maximum 24-hour snowfall, and number of annual tornadoes per 10,000 square miles," the survey said.
Minnesota's second-place finish was driven by our all-time highest temperature (115 degrees!), and our all-time lowest temperature (60 degrees below zero!), which, when combined with the other factors (including the likelihood of severe summer weather, including tornadoes) gave us an extreme weather score of 68.6.
Only California scored higher than the Gopher State, with an extreme weather score of 73.1. (Hawaii was the state with the least extreme weather, coming in at #50 on the list. Wisconsin was 31st, while Iowa was ranked 14th.)
So, be proud of our ability to thrive in ALL four seasons, Minnesota! Only Californians have to put up with more extreme weather than we do. That's not to say that other states don't have extreme weather, however. Keep scrolling to check out the most extreme temperatures ever recorded in all 50 states!
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LOOK: The most extreme temperatures in the history of every state
Gallery Credit: Anuradha Varanasi
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