KMSP - It took more than a month longer than normal, but the metro has finally hit the freeze mark. 220 days after the last spring freeze, the metro hit the 32 degree mark once again late Friday evening. This marks the latest first freeze ever recorded in the Twin Cities. It is just the 8th time that the metro made it to November without a freeze, but this year it almost took another 3 weeks, smashing the old record of November 7th set back in 1900. This was also the longest growing season on record for the metro, which are consecutive days without a freezing or sub-freezing temperature. The previous record was 207 days, so we broke that record by nearly 2 weeks as well.
What made this even more ridiculous is that during the height of the Friday storm, it began snowing, and actually snowed for several hours with our temperature hovering at 33° before finally hitting the ice forming mark. This is just the 10th time that the Twin Cities has ever seen measurable snow prior to getting the first 32° temperature or colder, with the last occurrence in 1992. I posted the picture of the hourly observations form MSP Airport so you can see the ridiculousness for yourself.