2021 December Storm Makes History Twice In Minnesota, Here’s Why

Rain, wind, tornadoes? All of the above were part of a weird winter storm that hit Minnesota on Wednesday (December 15th). We would expect nothing less at the end of a year like 2021.

The storm continues into the end of the week but at the time of writing early Thursday morning, it looks like history has already been made with this one, as it was unusual for many different reasons.

It has already been a weird year in terms of weather. We started off the year incredibly cold, even having one of our coldest months of February to date in Duluth. That eventually led us to an incredibly hot summer and now, to a mild winter so far.

Now, it looks like 2021 is trying to go out with a bang, thanks to this strange winter storm impacting most of Minnesota. It is certainly something we won't ever forget and it looks like it is going down in history as well.

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While thunderstorms and tornado activity is certainly different for December in Minnesota, it is actually tornadoes that will be putting this storm in the history books. According to KARE 11 out of Minneapolis, there were "numerous" tornado warnings across the state Wednesday night.

The National Weather Service of the Twin Cities also reported that there was a tornado in Plainview, Minnesota. Plainview is just under four hours from the Twin Ports.

While the NWS says they still need to officially confirm the tornado report, this is historic nonetheless, as it is the first-ever reported tornado in Minnesota during the month of December.

The National Weather Service of Duluth also weighed in with another record-breaking statistic. Wednesday is going down in history, setting the record for the most number of hurricane force thunderstorm wind gusts in a day.

Wow. What other records are broken remains to be seen as the storm continues to play out. For now, we have two records that will cement this strange storm into the record books.

2020 was also an interesting year for the weather. It was one of the warmest years on record for both Minnesota and Wisconsin. We also saw a very bizarre winter season as well. I guess we will see what 2022 has in store.