Excerpt from MN Weather Talk blog by U of M Climatologist Mark Seeley
A displacement of the polar jet stream north into Canada brought very warm air to Minnesota last weekend. Scores of warm temperature records were set around the state over March 13-16, including 60 new daily high maximum temperature records, and 35 new daily high minimum temperature records. ... These unusually high temperatures drove the frost out of the soil to a depth of 10-12 inches, though there is still some frost below that depth. ... Losing the frost in the soil this early in March will allow the soil to absorb more precipitation when it comes later in the month (expected late this weekend and next week).
All of the record-setting temperatures ended by St Patrick's Day (March 17th) as temperatures fell back closer to normal for this time of year. After setting a record high temperature earlier in the week, Bigfork reported snow on Thursday (March 19th). In fact Thursday brought light snowfall to a number of locations in central and northeastern Minnesota, mostly less than 1 inch. Cloquet reported 1.5 inches as did a few other locations. Read All