Minnesota Polar Vortex of 2013-2014

 Minnesota Polar Vortex of 2013-2014

The 2013-2014 Minnesota winter was an especially memorable one for me. I was in first grade and had just moved from the house where I grew up in Minneapolis to an apartment in Burnsville, so it was a big adjustment period for me. Then the winter happened, which is by far the most intense one I remember. The main thing that comes to memory was the shear amount of snow. Of course I was a little kid, so it wouldn't be as bad for me today, but it went up to my torso pretty regularly, which would have been a good 2 feet. I remember this because I would very frequently walk to a nearby park with my sister and my dad, and the trudging was intense. There were portions through the woods which were a little lighter because the trees caught some of the snow, but even those were hard to walk through. Then there was the cold, which from memory got into the negative 40s and 50s. I had to put on pretty intense gear to go outside, and there were periods of time where I'd go stir crazy staying in the apartment because going outside wasn't safe. This was also the winter that my mom was pregnant with my little brother, another reason it was particularly memorable. I also particularly remember walking around in the snow listening to The Beatles' Abbey Road on my iPod, something I reflect very fondly upon. 

For the actual statistics of it, it was noteworthy historically on many levels. There were 53 nights at or below 0 degrees Fahrenheit in the twin cities, the 5th most to date since 1873. There was a streak of 17 days below zero in the twin cities from Jan 26-Feb 11, 2014 (tied for 8th longest streak), and Duluth had 23 days. The meteorological winter, from December to February, was the ninth coldest on record. The lowest temperature in the twin cities was -48 degrees, but it got to -63 at the Grand Marais Airport, which is on the coast of Lake Superior way up north.

MN Department Of Natural Resources, Winter Recap of 2013-2014. Last modified on January 03, 2020. https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/climate/journal/13_14_winter_recap.html.

MN Department Of Natural Resources, Days of at or Below Zero in the Twin Cities, Last modified on March 03, 2014. https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/climate/journal/at_or_below_zero_13_14.html