When Does Duluth Usually Have Snow Sticking On The Ground?

As we move into the second half of November, many people's minds in the Twin Ports area start turning to winter.

Adding to that is the fact that holiday activities like Bentleyville and the Glensheen Christmas Tree Tours are getting ready to open soon, which is putting many people in a mental space that includes snow on the ground and holiday decorations all around.

Living in Northern Minnesota, it isn't out of the question to expect snow to start hanging around for the winter season earlier than other places in the state. While we've seen some snow already this year, the ground is currently bare as I write this post. Is that normal? Is it abnormal?

When do we start seeing snow stick around in the Duluth area?

The folks with the Duluth office of the National Weather Service shared a post on social media this week that basically says now is about the time that normally happens for people in the Twin Ports.

Despite some Halloween snow across the Northland that didn't stick around too long, it has been warm enough that we haven't gotten a firm freeze-up, This is especially true in areas closer to Lake Superior in the Twin Ports area. Most of our precipitation has been in the form of rain so far.

That said, the Duluth NWS office's Facebook post about when we start seeing snow stick around explains that we're getting into that timeframe when it normally starts to happen.

In short, it's usually mid to late November. The graph shows a red line marking the date of the post (November 14) and a blue line that shows the average snow depth we see on each day based on historical data.

To the right of the red line, you see the blue line on the chart start to go up, which is an indication of a higher normal amount of snow on the ground for that date over the years. It quickly ticks upward through the end of November all the way through December before it plateaus in January.

Diving into that a little deeper, I checked on the numbers of precisely how much snow we normally have on the ground in Duluth as of today and for some upcoming dates.

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History tells us we normally have 1.3 inches of snow on the ground on November 15. For the opening of Bentleyville, which is on November 23 this year, we normally have 2.4 inches of snow on the ground in Duluth.

November 28, which is Thanksgiving this year, we normally have 3.6 inches of snow on the ground. By December 1, it is normally 3.7 inches, trending upward from there through December.

Looking at the forecast for the next week, temperatures will be in the 40s and 50s for daytime highs through at least Tuesday, with a downward trend in temperatures into the 30s at the end of next week.

The 15 Snowiest Winters On Record In Duluth History

Since the National Weather Service began keeping weather records in Duluth in the late 1800s, here are the 15 winters with the highest snowfall totals on historical record.

It is worth noting that the official records from 1941-today have been recorded at the area now known as the Duluth International Airport (away from the lake, on top of the hill). Before then, various locations closer to Lake Superior had been used for official weather recording data. For anyone that knows anything about how Lake Superior and the hill play a role in temperature and snow, you can see how this makes older records inherently different.

While these records note the "snowiest winters", they actually include all seasonal snowfall from July 1 through June 30 of the following year.

Gallery Credit: Nick Cooper - TSM Duluth