Climate of Minneapolis–Saint Paul
Due to its location in the northern and central portion of the U.S., the Twin Cities has the coldest average temperature of any major metropolitan area in the nation.
[2] A feature of the humid continental climate in the United States is that weather can be unpredictable with extremes occurring in many phases of measurements.
[citation needed] For example, the Twin Cities has a hotter all-time record high temperature of 108 °F (42 °C) than the entire state of Florida, despite being located nearly 1000 miles farther from the equator.
Conversely, temperatures during the winter months are colder in the Twin Cities than in any other major metropolitan area in the continental United States, and are about equal to those in Anchorage, Alaska, which is around 1,000 miles (1,600 km) closer to the North Pole.
Because of its location in the center of North America, the Twin Cities region is subjected to some of the widest temperature ranges in the United States.
A significant impact on temperatures in the Twin Cities the past several years has been the urban heat island effect.
Large amounts of concrete and asphalt, coupled with numerous tall buildings (which block wind) help to trap heat close to the surface, resulting in warmer temperatures, especially at night, than those of the surrounding areas (even those further to the south).
For example, the average annual temperature of 45.4 at the Minneapolis St. Paul International airport is warmer than those of Rochester (43.4)[10] and Mankato (44.7)[11] which are both located farther to the south.
The summer months of June, July and August account for nearly half of the annual precipitation total across the Twin Cities.
On that day, six tornadoes touched down in several counties in and around the western and northern metro area, killing 13 people and injuring over 600.
This outbreak was notable because this was the first time in Minnesota history that civil defense sirens were used to warn people of impending severe weather.
In 1981 a twister dubbed the Har-Mar tornado touched down in Minneapolis, proceeding to affect the northern suburbs of the metro area, including killing a man near Lake Harriet.
On July 18, 1986, a tornado touched down in Fridley, and video captured from KARE 11 news helicopter was broadcast live on their 5:00 pm newscast.
These two events combined to cause $1.5 billion in damage, and they created the largest debris cleanup project in Minnesota history.
[19] These two storms combined to help the Twin Cities to their wettest summer on record, with 23.52 inches (597 mm) of rain falling from June to August.
