Fall in Minnesota continues to get increasingly hot

It may be September but summer isn't over yet as hotter than normal temperatures continue to linger across the state. But what is normal now? The new "normal" is getting noticeably warmer.

It's all apart of a larger trend, with new reports showing that fall is getting warmer in basically every state across the country. You've probably noticed it, and it is especially true in the Upper Midwest.

Minnesota's Assistant State Climatologist Peter Boulay says September in particular has consistently stayed warmer over the last couple of years.

"We've seen warmer temperatures overall, but if you start looking into the details, September is driving it the most," Boulay explained. "We're seeing the most changes in September, October is kind of flat, it hasn't changed a whole lot. We've had some pretty cold Octobers in recent years and then November's been warmer than normal overall too."

State climate data shows nearly every September since 2018 has been well above average. 2019 was over 3 degrees warmer, 2021 was nearly 3 degrees warmer, and 2023 was a shocking 5.5 degrees above normal. Only 2020 saw below normal temps in the last seven years.

On a thermometer, a tenth of a degree seems tiny, barely noticeable. And in meteorological and climate terms, 2-3 degrees is not a small amount. What can seem like a fraction of temperature changes from an "average" can reverberate in a global climate to turn into big disasters as weather gets wilder and more extreme in a warmer world. That can in turn have far-reaching effects on wildlife, plants, trees, water levels and other more noticeable effects.

According to Climate Central , fall has warmed in 234 U.S. cities by 2.5 degrees (F) on average since 1970. The biggest temperature jumps have been in the U.S. southwest where places like Reno, Nevada have jumped an incredible 7.7 degrees since 1970.

The average September temperature in the Twin Cities hovering closer to 60 degrees over the last couple of years. That is an increase of 3.6 degrees in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties. Increases in north-central Minnesota have been even greater, with increases over 4 degrees in Mille Lacs, Kanabec, Crow Wing and Cass Counties.

Boulay says there are a lot of factors at play when it comes to warming in Minnesota.

"Overall climate change is one of them. Having droughts in the fall certainly impacting our temperatures too," explained Boulay. "And if you have dry ground that helps raise the temperatures up a bit more."

Of course some of the drier weather and droughts we've seen can also be tied to climate change.

Temperatures the rest of this week in Minnesota will be in the mid-80s and over the weekend they're expected to reach up into the upper 70s still, very summer-like for mid-September.

It's also bad news in Minnesota from fall allergy sufferers . Warmer Septembers mean a longer and more intense fall allergy season, and better conditions for the main culprit, Ragweed , to thrive.