Climate Normals and records at Duluth, Minnesota for December
Normal high on the 1st: 30 F
Normal high on the 31st: 15 F
Normal low on the 1st: 15 F
Normal low on the 31st: 5 F
Average monthly temperature for December: 17.2 degrees
Warmest December on record: 32.7 degrees set in 1877
Coldest December on record: 1.8 degrees set in 1983
Normal Precipitation: 1.47″
Wettest December on record: 3.89″ set in 1879
Driest December on record: 0.07″ set in 1905
Normal Snowfall: 18.7″
Snowiest December on record: 44.3″ set in 1950
Least Snowy December on record: 0.9″ set in 1905
On average Duluth has 13 days in December with at least 0.1″ snowfall
On average Duluth has 5 days in December with at least 1.0″ snowfall
On average Duluth has 8 days in December with a subzero low temperature, most is 23 days set in December (2013).
Only 6 Decembers on record failed to produce any days with a subzero low temperature in Duluth, those years are 2015, 1959, 1918, 1913, 1888 and 1877.
Astronomical Data for Duluth, Minnesota for December
Sunrise on the 1st: 7:33 AM CST
Sunrise on the 31st: 7:53 AM CST
Sunset on the 1st: 4:22 PM CST
Sunset on the 31st: 4:29 PM CST
Past December Snowfall Totals at Duluth, Minnesota
Period: 2010-2020
Normal snowfall in December is 18.7″ (1991-2020 climate period).
2010: 18.1″
2011: 8.1″
2012: 13.2″
2013: 39.9″ (3rd snowiest December on record)
2014: 8.6″
2015: 24.6″
2016: 21.3″
2017: 13.4″
2018: 19.8″
2019: 27.7″
2020: 16.5″
There is plenty of cold arctic air bottled up over Alaska into portions of northern Canada today, and this has been the case for a few weeks now.
Odds favor a warmer than average (orange and red colors) December in northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin, but with that aforementioned arctic air lurking well to our north, there’s always that possibility that will tap into some of that arctic air from time to time during December 2021, but even if we did there’s no guarantee it would stick around for long durations.
Last 10 CFS model temperature forecasts valid for December 2021.
Above normal precipitation (green colors) is forecast in northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin for December 2021.
Note: Duluth is still running -6.72″ below normal in precipitation this year, and there’s no way will get rid of that deficit in December, even if we were to have above normal precipitation for the month.
Last 10 CFS model precipitation forecasts valid for December 2021.
Tim
