The United States of climate opinion

Ask your neighbor's opinion on climate change and you'll get one answer. Ask a friend in another part of the state or country and you may get another. And it turns out, there are some interesting breakdowns by region and even by county that might surprise you.

The Yale Climate Opinion Maps are an interesting way to crunch and quantify the data on climate change opinion in the USA.

On Climate Cast this week, I spoke with Yale Program on Climate Change Communication Director Anthony Leiserowitz about how climate change opinion breaks down across the USA, and in Minnesota.

I also checked in with Jason Samenow from The Washington Posts' Capital Weather Gang about a big week in policy and climate science news from Washington D.C..

And finally we got an update on the incredible rain and snowfall totals from California this winter, and how it is benefiting water resources there.

Seeley: March is 19th straight warmest month in the Twin Cities

As I posted earlier this week, March will go down as a record 19th consecutive warmer than average month in the Twin Cities.

Here's an exclusive preview of Dr. Mark Seeley's Weather Talk post this week. As always you can hear Mark in the 6 am hour Friday morning on Morning Edition on MPR News stations.

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Topic: Preliminary climate summary for March 2017

Most climate observers reported mean monthly temperature values near normal, or 1 to 2 degrees F warmer than normal for the month. For MSP Airport it was the 19 consecutive month with above normal temperature. For most climate stations over half the days of the month were warmer than normal. Minnesota reported the coldest temperature in the nation on four dates during the month:

-20°F at Embarrass on the 3rd

3°F at Warroad and Flag Island on the 8th

-4°F at Embarrass on the 9th

-11°F at Crane Lake on the 14th

Extreme values of temperature for the month ranged from 74°F at Redwood Falls on the 6th to -21°F at Cotton (St Louis County) on the 4th. At least 20 different communities reached a temperature of 70 degrees F or higher during the month. Though very few new daily temperature records were set during March, Redwood Falls set a record daily high on the 6th with a reading of 74°F, while Winnebago reported a new daily record low temperature of -2°F on the 16th.

Except for southeastern and northeastern locations, most observers around the state reported below normal precipitation during the month of March. Over 20 new daily precipitation records were set, mostly in northeastern and southeastern counties. The wettest part of the state was in the southeast where many climate stations reported over 2 inches of precipitation for the month. Some of the driest areas were in the west where many communities reported less than a third of an inch. A number of southern Minnesota climate stations reported over 10 inches of snow for the month, mostly as a result of the winter storm on March 12-13. Twenty climate stations across southern Minnesota reported new daily snowfall records from that storm.

Many areas of the state lost soil frost during the month, and a number of area lakes lost their ice. The warming trend that ended the month appears to be in place through much of the first half of April as well.

The wind storm of March 7-8 produced some damage to structures in different communities. Starbuck, Fairmont, and MSP Airport reported wind gusts over 60 mph from that storm.

Perhaps the most unusual weather event came on March 6 when three tornadoes occurred, the earliest date in history for this type of storm. Two tornadoes were reported in southern counties (Freeborn and Faribault) and one in central Minnesota (Sherburne County). All three tornadoes were rated EF-1 (86-110 mph) by the National Weather Service. Damages to homes and agricultural structures were reported from these storms. You can read more detail at...

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/climate/journal/170306_earliest_mn_tornadoes.html