Lucy Wallace, a recent transplant from San Diego, had been warned about the chilling winters of her new city, Minneapolis. She bought a $900 winter coat, two pairs of boots and metal spikes to make her running shoes usable on icy sidewalks.
So he was immediately confused and relieved by the record-breaking warm temperatures that made for a rare snow-free winter holiday week across much of the upper Midwest.
“I spent hundreds of dollars on a new wardrobe and winter gear that until now has gone completely unused,” said Ms Wallace, 35, who ran five miles on Christmas Day in a T-shirt. “Here I am wearing my San Diego wardrobe in December in Minneapolis.”
According to the report, the high temperature of 54 degrees made this Christmas Day the hottest on record in the Minneapolis area the National Meteorological Service. Across much of the region, people faced a string of days heading into the new year that felt like a mild autumn. Ice fishing was especially dangerous on lakes covered by thin ice sheets.
And a hack to host large holiday gatherings was thwarted. “I think of all the families in Minnesota who rely on using their porch as an extra freezer during Christmas entertaining when it's almost 50 degrees outside,” Peggy Flanagan, Minnesota Lt. wrote in Threads.
It's not unheard of to have a warm or snowless Christmas in Minnesota. But such days are likely to become more common due to climate change, said Jessica Hellmann, director of the Institute for the Environment at the University of Minnesota.
“It's a big cultural shift to experience 50 yesterday and how disorienting that is geographically,” Dr. Hellman said in an interview Tuesday. “It's a visceral sense of what climate change is like for people who are used to living in a certain climate.”
In northern Minnesota, emergency personnel have warned people to stay away from lakes, which are covered by an unusually thin layer of ice.
Last week, a Cessna plane that landed on Upper Red Lake broke through the ice, according to Beltrami County Sheriff Jason Riggs.
“On landing, the lack of snow meant the plane had difficulty slowing down,” he said he said in a statement. “Eventually the plane skidded into an area of thin ice and the nose of the plane broke into open water.”
The plane's two occupants, who had flown in from Michigan for a day of ice fishing, were rescued.
In neighboring Becker County, a 67-year-old man was found dead Saturday after his ATV broke on thin ice. according to the Becker County Sheriff's Office.
Ted Bonde, president of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Fishing Association, said ice fishing tournaments across much of the state had been delayed at least a week as winter anglers anxiously awaited the cold weather.
“I know nature does this and at some point it will turn around. it's just a matter of time,” Mr. Bond said, adding, “Once it does, there's going to be a mad rush to get out there.”
Mr. Bonde, who coaches a high school fishing team in Kiel, Wis., about 45 miles south of Green Bay, said that on Dec. 10, there were three inches of ice – enough to walk on – in his area. Not anymore.
“It's all gone,” he said. “Everybody takes their boats back to where the ice was.”
Milwaukee, which has recorded seven days above 50 degrees so far this month, is on track for its warmest December and the warmest year on record, according to Cameron Miller, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Milwaukee.
On Christmas Day, the high was 52 – well above the average high of 34 – and only dropped overnight to 48, the warmest low on record for the date, Mr Miller said.
With “just a trace” of snow this month, it hasn't been the ideal season for winter sports. “I'm an avid cross-country skier and this kind of weather is abysmal for someone like me,” Mr Miller said.
Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis, said he enjoyed taking his daughter to the playground in late December, a month later than in previous years. An avid runner, he has appreciated the absence of snow and ice on trails and sidewalks. But there is something deeply troubling about his first snow-free Christmas in Minneapolis, said Mr. Frey, who has combating climate change is a priority.
“Any enjoyment of the warmth is overshadowed by worry about what's going on,” Mr Frey said. “It's a very eerie and unsettling kind of fun because it makes you wonder what's going to happen next.”
The unusual heat was expected to shift east on Tuesday and Wednesday, with high temperatures climbing 10 to 20 degrees above normal from the Upper Midwest along the Great Lakes, according to the National Weather Service. Mild temperatures were also forecast along the East Coast, with highs in the 50s in the mid-Atlantic and temperatures in the 60s in the Carolinas.
Scientists say it is difficult to attribute a single abnormal weather event to climate change. But there is no doubt that winters in the United States have they have become milder in recent years.
Also among the victims of this year's mild winter is the Minnesota Ice Festival, which features a giant maze of ice and snow. Canceled last week.
“The weather hasn't cooperated and we won't be able to deliver the experience we've been hoping for,” said Robbie Harrell, CEO of Minnesota Ice.
One positive of this strange winter is the absence of a particular type of complaint that starts as early as November, Mr. Frey said.
“We're very proud of our low record for snow plowing complaints,” he joked. “Our plow drivers were so quick and efficient. they tried a new strategy and it's clearly working.”
John Keefe contributed to the report.
