It's starting to feel like December

Winter is finally on its way - for temperature, anyway, not so much for snow.

After a November that was host to temperatures well above average - about 20 degrees above normal - December is kicking off with temperatures that feel a bit more seasonal.

The average November temperature since 1971 in Brainerd was 27.7 degrees. In 2009, the average November temperature was 47 degrees. After a high of 32 degrees on Wednesday, temperatures for the rest of the week are expected in the low to mid teens in the mornings and in the low to mid 20s during the day.

Those temperatures are about normal for this time of the year, said Carol Christenson, warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Duluth.

What hasn't been normal this year has been the snowfall, or lack thereof.

The DNR's forestry office in Brainerd, which keeps track of weather statistics locally, reported no measurable snowfall for November. The 10-year average for November is 6.65 inches. For the season, the Brainerd area has seen 2 inches of snow compared to a seasonal average of 7.24 inches.

Christenson said on average Brainerd has at least three days of more than a tenth of an inch of snow and 2.3 days with more than an inch of snow in November

"It is very rare not to have any measurable snow this late in the year," Christenson said.

Not unheard of, though. While National Weather Service statistics show a 30-year average of 6.7 inches of snow in November in Brainerd, there have been two instances in the past 10 years, in 1999 and in 2007, where no measurable snowfall was recorded in Brainerd, according to the State Climatology Office.

"Still, to have nothing, that's pretty rare," Christenson said.

It doesn't appear a measurable snowfall will be coming any time soon, though flurries are in the forecast.

On Thursday and Friday the weather service's forecast calls for a 20 percent chance of snow showers with high temps 20-25 degrees and low temps 11-16 degrees. No snow is forecast from Saturday through Tuesday and high temps are expected to be in the low to mid 20s and low temps in the low to mid teens.

"So far all I see is a lot of cold air and no snow," Christenson said. "I know a lot of people are hoping for (snow) and a lot are not, but I'm going to stay neutral. However, at some point winter will return."

MATT ERICKSON may be reached at matt.erickson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5857.