Weather: Minnesota is no stranger to November snow

(FOX 9) - Another day and more light snow across much of the area, but this isn't all that unusual for November. While the long-talked-about Halloween Blizzard is the exception and not the rule, we do get some snow just about every year during the month. This is why I often say that "it does snow in Minnesota in the fall"... because it is perfectly "normal to get snow in the fall. We often refer to snowstorms as "winter storms", but our winter season doesn't actually start until at least December 20 and goes through March 20. That means we average several inches of snow in the fall and even in the spring seasons. 

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November, though, can be very similar to our other snow months; it can vary wildly from year to year on overall snow totals. A perfect example of this is looking at just the last few years:

A look back at how much it has snowed in November. (FOX 9)

We have short memories when it comes to weather. It's not a criticism by any means, it's just part of the human condition. Many of us will remember the year before as it will be relatively "fresh" in our mind but will often forget about the many years that came before it. Unless some BIG weather event happened – the Halloween Blizzard is the perfect example. Well, last year we had a very warm November with just a little over an inch of snow by the end of the month. But the two prior years both tallied more than 8 inches. In fact, since the year 2000, we average 4.6 inches of snow during the month.

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Now, that is NOT our 30-year climate average, the standard used by the National Weather Service. The climate average stems from 1991-2020. That of course includes our Halloween Blizzard, which has overweighted our "average" November snowfall because that 1991 month was the snowy month on record for the Twin Cities. That's why our current 30-year climate average still has us receiving nearly 7 inches of snow every year. But it's this fact that really reinforces just how snowy November can be even if we see one now and again that's quite mild.