Minnesota synonymous with brrrrrrrr!!
February 17, 2009 • written by Brittany Johnson
The sun, fighting its way through a thick cover of grey, ominous clouds, reflects off the sheet of freezing, harsh ice beneath it. The biting wind whips past; leaving a whirlwind of snow behind it, snow that covers every inch of the barren landscape. The temperature is enough to make every living creature disappear, leaving a lonely, empty scene in their wake.
It is -60 degrees Fahrenheit outdoors, and even the sun is beginning to vanish, relenting to the arctic conditions. Is that where this depressing and threatening scene comes from? The glacial arctic tundra? Or maybe it is a picture from the past, from a devastating ice age perhaps. Unfortunately, all these guesses are wrong. This place is several thousand miles away from Antarctica and roughly one hundred thousand years after the last ice age. These were the conditions on February 2nd, 1996 in Tower Minnesota.
Let’s try again. In this next scenario, the sun has no trouble beating down on the earth below it. Air conditioning is virtually non-existent, reserved for a few public places. The heat spreads like the plague, enveloping a large portion of land, unaccustomed to dealing with such horrible conditions.
Where is this unfortunate place? The Middle East, perhaps, where temperatures commonly reach well up into the 90s? It is no where near Iraq or Iran, and the temperature well surpasses 90 degrees Fahrenheit, reaching into the hundreds. 114 degrees to be exact. Where is this? Only two-hundred miles from the town which reached the record low of -60 degrees. The conditions described occurred in Moorhead Minnesota in 1936, during the greatest heat weave in the United States and Canada since records were first kept. A heat wave which killed roughly five-thousand people in the United States and seven-hundred-and-eighty people in Canada.
Minnesota is often referred to as the land of ten-thousand lakes, but it is equally known for its range of temperatures throughout its four seasons. The average temperature in the state is 45 degrees Fahrenheit, and yet its high temperature in the summer is 83, and its low for winter is 4 degrees. So what drives people to live in such a place, where the heat is used just as much as the air?
Germans, Swedes, Norwegians, and of course Native Americans were the first to populate Minnesota, since the west promised new land, adventure, and eventually gold. But the gold rush is over, and it’s pretty much settled in around here. Why don’t people leave? That’s an interesting question, considering plenty of Minnesotans complain about the cold in the winter and heat in the summer.
Deborah Timm, a Mankato resident, says she came to Minnesota for college. “I met [my husband],” she explains. “We were married after that and got jobs in Minnesota.”
School, family, and jobs are often the reason people stay in the 32nd state. Others, like Jean Larson of a Maplewood, are simply brought up here.
“I was born and raised here,” Larson says. “And I like the snow—just not the cold. I put up with it to get to spring and summer.”
It seems that Minnesota has something for everyone, and people are willing to put up with the ridiculous weather just to experience their favorite parts. Snow, it just so happens, seems to be the big winner in the favorite category.
“I love watching the snow float down from the sky,” Timm explains. “It always gives me a sense of peace and calm. The snow glitters as if small diamonds have been scattered across the surface of the undisturbed snow.”
Sandy Pearson of Ramsey is a true Minnesotan, virtually unaffected by the cold. Of course, even she has a breaking point.
“I don’t mind 0-30 degrees, but this is ridiculous,” she explains, referencing the sub-zero temperature. “The way the snow sticks to all the trees on a cold morning is beautiful though.”
It is evident that Minnesota holds some innate charm, whether it is the snow, the promise of summer, or some other endearing quality, and it looks as if Minnesotans will brave whatever Mother Nature has up her sleeve to live there.
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