by Northern News Now meteorologist Dave Anderson

My colleague Hunter McCullough was playing with his band at Peter Mitchell Days when news worked through the crowd that Charlie Fowler of Embarrass had passed away at 92. Hunt-dog and his crew then played a tribute song to the weather legend. Charlie, of course, was in the running to set the Minnesota state cold record on the morning of February 2nd, 1996. His official thermometer had the mercury separate at -53 so nearby Kathy Hoppa recorded the record at -60.

July is here so memories of cold like that are far from our minds. In fact, the long range forecast calls for temperatures averaging two degrees warmer than normal. Rain should be near normal. July 1 to 6 should be warm and stormy. The 7th to 13th aim to be rainy and cool. The 14th to 23rd are forecast to be sunny and dry. The 24th to 31st should be warm and dry. Some sources think August will be hot and dry.

We are now half through 2025. Our region has had one warmer than normal month (March at +3.4 from normal mean). We have had two normal months ( April and May with plus or minus .8 degree from normal mean). We have had three months colder than normal (January, February and June which ran .9 to 3.8 degrees cooler than normal). The year so far is then .75 degree cooler than normal which is in the realm of normal climate variability.

February 1996 sure was way out of the realm of normal climate variability. A lot of people were up in arms back in 96 that Kathy had somehow cheated to get -60. In real life, she and Charlie were good friends. Now both have passed away and we’re left with memories of “the day the groundhog froze.”