Warm temps grace Bemidji

Monday's high ties record set in 1931

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

Nov. 10, 1999

By Devlyn Brooks

Temperatures in Bemidji hovered on or near 60-some-year-old records Monday and Tuesday according to weather officials.

And the unusually warm and dry weather -- caused by a weeks-long pattern in which warm Pacific air has flowed into the Midwest keeping the cold air in Canada -- should continue about another 10 days.

Robin Turner, a senior forecaster with the National Weather Service in Grand Forks, N.D., said the weather produced the balmiest Nov. 8 on record in Minnesota Monday.

Turner said Bemidji's high temperature Monday was 70 degrees, which tied the record for Nov. 8 set in 1931.

And as of 3 p.m. Tuesday, the temperature in Bemidji had reached 62 degrees unofficially, which was one degree less than the record set for Nov. 9 in 1937.

Turner said to expect much of the same with short cooling periods through at least Nov. 19.

"We're staying above normal, which is pretty amazing," he said. "with the storm track staying to the north, no significant precipitation is expected."

Temperatures should reach the middle 40s today, with a slight wind reaching 5 to 10 mph, Turner said. And temperatures should again reach the middle 50s on Thursday and Friday. Northern Minnesota should experience a cooling period this weekend with highs dipping into the lower 40s and lows in the 20s. But as of Monday and Tuesday, highs should climb back into the mid-40s to 50s, he added.

"We're having some extra days of early fall weather, and we should enjoy it while it lasts," Turner said.

He added that although it isn't highly unusual to see 70-deree weather in early November, the length of this current weather pattern is abnormal.

"There's no indication the pattern will break down any time soon," he said.

For those interested in tracking Bemidji's current weather conditions, the State Climatology Office lists Bemidji as one of its regional cities on its website at http://climate.umn.edu. Once at the website, click on current conditions and choose Bemidji. The site lists current conditions and also allows access to an almanac.