Domebuster memories, where’s the really cold air?

Monday's Clipper dusted Minnesota with light snow as expected. But it was nothing compared to 7 years ago. The infamous Domebuster took down the Metrodome roof.

The Domebuster turned out to be the 5th biggest snowstorm in Twin Cities history. The Metrodome Teflon roof was no match for the sheer weight of that high water content snow.

Monday Clipper

Monday's Clipper delivered about as expected across Minnesota. The system laid down a general 1" to 3" snow zone from the Twin Cities north. Here are some selected snowfall totals from the Twin Cities and Duluth NWS offices.

Quiet week

The rest of the week looks fairly quiet across the Upper Midwest. Daily high temperatures bob between the 20s and 30s.

December trending mild again

Through the first 10 days December is still running more than 5 degrees warmer than average in the Twin Cities. Our recent colder snap still has not been able to displace the record warmth that opened December.

Next week is also trending milder than average now. It is increasingly hard to put together a colder than average month in Minnesota over the past 2+ years.

Where's the cold air?

This time of year I look to Alaska and the Arctic for potential inbound bitter air mass invasions. But there's a notable absence of cold air across the Arctic and Alaska.

Temperatures are in the 30s and 40s in Alaska's usually bitter interior. The average low in Fairbanks is -10 this week. Note the widespread warmer than average temperatures across the Arctic. Even parts of Siberia are showing shades of red.

Storm track staying north

There's a reason this December has been relatively quiet so far. The mean Polar Front jet stream position has been just north of Minnesota. Also a northwest flow regime trends dry for Minnesota, void of any deep moisture feed from the Gulf of Mexico.