Record recap for warm and wet December stretch

A consistently warm and wet stretch of weather broke a number of daily temperature and precipitation records in the Northland from December 23 to December 26. Overnight lows staying above freezing were particularly noteworthy.

We can analyze hourly observation data as far back as 1948 in Duluth through the Iowa Environmental Mesonet, but we must keep in mind that there may be missing observations in that timeframe that would break a streak. With that said, there have only been six streaks in December that maintained a temperature above 32° for 72 hours or longer.

Of those six, the longest by far was in 2023 with a streak of 6 days 12 hours between December 21 and 27. A second streak earlier in the month also made the top five. The previous record was 4 days 19 hours in 2015.

There are five climate sites that are used for tracking daily records in the Northland. The following are records set by each of these sites between December 23 and 26, 2023:

December 23, 2023

• International Falls – Warm low: 35° – Previous record: 33°, 2014
• Ashland – High: 46° – Previous record: 46°, 1931
• Ashland- Warm low: 35° – Previous record: 31°, 1931
• Brainerd – High: 44° – Previous record: 44°, 1899
• Brainerd – Warm low: 36° – Previous record: 34°, 2005

December 24, 2023

• Duluth – High: 48° – Previous record: 47°, 1881
• Duluth – Warm low: 41° – Previous record: 36°, 1877
• Duluth – Precipitation: 0.85″ – Previous record: 0.77″, 2009
• International Falls – Warm low – 33° – Previous record: 31°, 2005
• International Falls – Precipitation: 0.91″ – Previous record: 0.32″, 2009
• Hibbing – High: 47° – Previous record: 44°, 1994
• Hibbing – Warm low: 38° – Previous record: 32°, 2014
• Hibbing – Precipitation: 1.31″ – Previous record: 0.20″, 1933
• Ashland – Warm low: 44° – Previous record: 33°, 2005
• Brainerd – High: 49° – Previous record: 45°, 1899, 1994
• Brainerd – Warm low: 34° – Previous record: 33°, 1940, 2005

December 25, 2023

• Duluth – High: 46° – Previous record: 44°, 1881, 1999
• Duluth – Warm low: 36° – Previous record: 34°, 1877
• International Falls – Warm low: 30° – Previous record: 28°, 2019
• Hibbing – Warm low: 34° – Previous record: 30°, 2009
• Ashland – High: 50° – Previous record: 44°, 1922, 1940
• Ashland – Warm low: 39° – Previous record: 33°, 1940
• Brainerd – Warm low: 34° – Previous record: 33°, 2019

December 26, 2023

• Duluth – Precipitation: 0.54″ – Previous record: 0.43″, 1938
• International Falls – Warm low: 31° – Previous record: 29°, 1959, 2011
• Hibbing – Warm low: 34° – Previous record: 27°, 2005
• Ashland – Warm low: 36° – Previous record: 32°, 1940
• Brainerd – Warm low: 33° – Previous record: 31°, 2011