GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — With recent temperatures so high and snow so low, you might think Minnesota's January is a breeze.
But with 10 days to go this month, we could still be in for a stormy surprise.
“When people think, ‘What is the snowiest month of the year in the Twin Cities?’ they think March,” said KARE 11 Chief Meteorologist Belinda Jensen. “It's actually January.”
A look at snow totals the past decade proves it. We average a foot of snow each January, often in the second half.
And remember last year at this time, when we'd only had about 7 inches of snow? We finished the winter with 78 inches.
At Ace Hardware in Golden Valley, there hasn't been a run on shovels, and things like snow blowers, ice melt and window scrapers also aren't selling.
“I think every store has got their pegs filled,” said store manager Dale Hoffman.
Hoffmann says his view out the store's front window is more like fall than like winter.
“It's hard to look at,” he said. “You can go north to see the snow, you can go south to see the snow, but here you look out and you just see ground. It's bad.”
Yet this week's forecast is changing that. With two to four inches expected for the Twin Cities, customers like Rory Johnson are getting ready. He bought a gas can to fill up his snow blower, finally convinced he'll need it.
“It’s the first time I'm firing it up for the season,” Johnson said. ‘They always say we're going to get snow and we never get snow.”
And while this week's totals may not be big, they may be just the start, a preview of bigger storms and much more snow that might be yet to come.
“Winter just arrived,” said Jensen. “In the next two weeks you'll remember that we are in Minnesota and it is winter.”
“I am not looking forward to it,” said Larry Zettervall as he bought a bag of ice melt. “But I'm going to Florida tomorrow so I really don't care!”