40 today? Warm winter helps economy; 14 years of weather in 33 minutes!

Patchy AM fog burning off in much of the region today

Sunshine for the metro and much of southern Minnesota today!

40 degrees possible this afternoon!

Mild winter helping overall USA economy?

Today looks like the mildest day this week. A mix of fog, clouds, snow showers and even some sun may make for a changeable day.

Temps will mostly be in the 30s, but may push 40 in areas that do manage more sun!

It looks like this may go down as the 4th warmest meterologocal winter on record in the Twin Cities and much of Minnesota. (Pending final February numbers of course)

This winter has been mild around the USA, and that may be boosting economic numbers.

The story from NPR:

"In January of last year, snow blanketed more than 42 percent of the country. Last month, it was just under 13 percent. The warm weather has lowered our heating bills and created a bit of an economic boost.

After two brutally long winters, the temperatures this year have been positively balmy. In the Washington, D.C., area, they've hovered in the 50s for much of the past two and a half months. Area landscapers, whose schedules are usually pretty lean this time of year, are busier. Take Chuck Dod Landscaping, which is building a stone wall in the backyard of a home in McLean, Va.

"Most winters, we just plan for downsizing a bit," owner Chuck Dod says. "Normally, we're down to about 40 or 50 percent capacity. This year, we're running 75-80 percent of capacity."

Thanks to the milder temperatures, Dod says, his office has been fielding more calls.

"I think people are getting out more," he says. "If it was colder, [they] probably wouldn't be walking the neighborhood as much. Normally takes place a month or two later."

Warmer weather also helped bulk up the country's employment rolls in December and January. Construction workers are finding jobs when hiring is normally weak. Andrew Mawhorter is hauling chunks of stone to build the stone wall; he's happy to be on the payroll."

Of cousre there are winners and losers in any weather scenario.

Cold beer anyone?

"At a Home Depot store in Overland Park, Kansas, where the temperature was an unseasonably warm 65 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday, snow shovels, snow blowers and other winter equipment had been relegated to a small corner at the end of the store. Prime selling space has been given over to shiny green lawn mowers.

A Target store in the Kansas City area had snow sleds on clearance last week.

Toro Co, which makes snow throwers, would not provide specifics on demand ahead of its quarterly earnings report. "Certainly the snow thrower products we sell would be negatively impacted by the lack of snow pretty much everywhere," said Kurt Svendsen, spokesman for Toro.

Instead of hats, gloves and snow blowers, what consumers may be after in balmy weather is a nice cold beer.

"Warm weather does always help beer sales in the winter. Hard to quantify how much it's helped the past two months though. Too early to tell," said Harry Schuhmacher, editor and publisher of Beer Business Daily."

Beethoven's Weather Symphony?

Not sure how the master Beethoven would feel about this, but I'm guessing he'd be pretty cool with the idea to loop 14 years of weather over his music bed.

With the number of storms sweeping through the Upper Midwest, you can see why Minnesota weather keeps weather people employed!

"This video packs 14 years of United States weather (1997 - 2011) into 33 minutes, presenting a total of 120,900 individual frames, each spaced one hour apart. And they're all set to Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat Major. If you want to get right to the drama, we recommend jumping to the climactic 27th minute."

PH