Coldest November in 20 years?

It's not your imagination. This is a cold November to remember.

So far this November is running 6.5 degrees below average in the Twin Cities. The mercury has failed to reach 50 degrees at MSP Airport this month. That's the first time that has happened since 1997. By that measure, this is the coldest November in 20 years.

A rare cold month

Our Minnesota November chill is a rare event lately. This is just the third cooler than average month in the past 25 months dating back to September 2015. Our late October and early November cold streak is also the longest in over 2 years.

From October 27 to November 12, 2017, temperatures stayed below normal for seventeen days straight in the Twin Cities. The normal maximum and minimum temperature for November 12 is 43 degrees F and 28 degrees F.

The cold streak was broken with somewhat more balmy temperatures on November 13. When was the last time there was this long of a below normal stretch? From February 11 to March 6, 2015 was a streak of 24 days below normal. Above normal streaks have been more common in recent years.

Overall 2017 is still running warmer than average in Minnesota. Red is still winning out over blue on the chart.

Milder next week?

Models are still in flux for next week. But the trend toward 2 or 3 of milder days in the 40s in the next week to 10 days is growing. Right now Friday, Monday and Black Friday look like the mildest days.

NOAA JPSS1 launch scrubbed again

Strong upper level winds scrubbed the launch of NOAA's JPSS1 satellite again Wednesday. Here's the scrub announcement from NASA TV.

The new polar orbiting bird will help augment data flowing into numerical weather forecast models. 85% of model data input comes from satellites. NOAA's polar orbiting satellites are a critical piece of our forecasting infrastructure.