Remember Rochester’s 2012 Record-Setting St. Patrick’s Day?
We set a record-high temperature on March 17th, 2012... do you remember how warm it was in Minnesota that year?!?
Unlike the past few years where we've had cold and wintry-like Springs, the Spring of 2012 was record-setting across pretty much all of Minnesota. In fact, the entire month of March that year was a warm one. The National Weather Service office in La Crosse noted that just seven years ago, March 2012 is notable for "its record-breaking warmth, particularly across the Upper Midwest. Long stretches of record highs and record warm lows were set, a lot of them significantly (10 degrees or more), including all-time March records."
And that record warmth was felt here in Minnesota's Med Citiy. The NWS says Rochester set new records for high temperatures on 8 different days in March of 2012, including on St. Patrick's Day, when the thermometer topped out at a whopping 81 degrees!
Do you remember that year? I sure do. My now-wife and I were busy making final preparations for our wedding-- we got married in Jamaica on March 23rd of that year-- and had stopped off for a green beer (or two) in St. Paul at Sweeny's Saloon (where we were holding our reception in their way-cool Oak Room).
And, yeah, it was warm that day in St. Paul too-- so warm, in fact, that we were able to sit out on their deck in short sleeve shirts and shorts and soak in the sun while we enjoyed our green beer. It's not often in Minnesota you get to do that on St. Patrick's Day!
Now compare those warm temps from seven years ago (though, of course, they're not normal March temps in Minnesota) to the high we posted yesterday in Rochester, and I'll take the Spring of 2012 every time. How about you?
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