This winter was too warm for much of the white stuff to accumulate.

​It's March. When will winter start?

Apparently, this year, it won't. We somehow managed to skate through Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, and Valentine's Day with daytime temps rarely dipping below 30 degrees and, for those of us in Minneapolis at least, no snow emergencies. Temps are projected to hit 50 degrees by next Tuesday. In other words, the "worst" of it is behind us.

It may have seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime Minnesota winter. In fact, it ended up being the fourth warmest on record. Here's a graphic from the National Weather Service showing detailing just how about average Twin Cities temps have been since the beginning of December.

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@mndotnews

A jack-knifed semi in northwestern Minnesota this morning.

​Everyone knew this was going to get ugly.

Since the frigid rainy-slushy-whatever-it-was started pouring down on our fair state last night, there have been about 367 crashes, spin-outs or vehicles flying off the road, according to the Minnesota State Patrol.

Old Man Winter, it appears, didn't appreciate everyone using air quotes around the word "winter" lately.

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National Weather Service

It's cold today -- but you probably already knew that.

​Here's some news for those of you who have well-insulated abodes and/or haven't gone outside yet this morning: It's winter in Minnesota, and it can get freakin' cold.

You might have forgotten about this season while we were being pleasantly surprised with an extremely mild December and 50-degree temps as late as January 10, but today's freeze-your-face-off coldness brings that familiar bone chill that Minnesotans expect this time of year.

Don't fret, though, those of you willing to sacrifice ice fishing and snowmobiling for comfortable walks outside, because it appears that this cold snap isn't for long.

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National Weather Service

It barely qualifies as news these days, but Thursday's high should be in the mid-40s.

​Remember all that doom and gloom we heard just a month ago about how terrible this winter was going to be?

Hogwash. The day after Christmas, Minneapolis' Chain of Lakes was rife with runners, walkers, and bikers during a record-setting 52-degree day that capped off a glorious holiday weekend, and since then, with a couple short interludes, temps have pleasantly ranged between the 20s and 40s.

And there's more bad news for all you cold-loving masochists out there -- just in time for this weekend, temps are supposed to again hit March-like highs in the mid-40s.

Zwan once wrote a catchy rock n' roll tune about an endless summer. Perhaps it's time for a Minnesotan to write one about our endless fall.

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Matt Grommes

This Christmas is the worst.

​Still dreaming of a white Christmas? A crisp sleigh ride over the river and through the woods to grandma's?

Well, according to the weather experts at the Department of Natural Resources, we can all forget it.

"Basically, it would take a Christmas miracle to get an inch of snow on the ground," says climatologist Peter Boulay.

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Say it ain't snow.

​Hey there, Minnesota. We have something to tell you. You might want to sit down for this.

The National Weather Service in Chanhassen is predicting the first snow of winter 2011-12.

There, there -- we all knew this day had to come.

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Minnesota is supposed to know what to do when this stuff piles up.

​The Minnesota winter often includes roughly a metric ton of snow. A a civic duty, this snow needs to be shoveled off sidewalks and tossed into the yard of that neighbor nobody likes.

But come this December's pile-on, Minneapolis resident might have an added incentive to be a decent human being and get all that stuff out of the way. The city is planning to chase down the laziest among us, and cite those who don't comply with both a public shaming and a $75 fine.

Finally, the city has learned something from the movie "Scarface," and decided that everyone needs a little cash incentive to push white powder.

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Yes, kitty, it's really hailing.

​In case you are in a deep underground bunker, City Pages would like to inform you that it's storming outside.

Okay, so most of you already knew that. What you should also know, if you live in the northern suburbs, is that it's also probably going to hail.

If you were planning a late, three-martini lunch at an outdoor cafe in Blaine, you might have to cancel. (The lunch, not the martinis.)

According to the National Weather Service, half-inch diameter hail was reported in St. Paul and surrounding areas, and is now making its way north. Minneapolis was hit hard, but has been mostly spared, falling just on the edge of the storm that is sitting just west of the metro area, where it will probably stick around for a nasty couple of hours.
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Say goodbye to the enemy... for now.

​Minnesota's Indian summer is ending this week. As always, the temperature itself will be a matter of precise measurement, while the meaning of the bizarre warm spell of October 2011 is up for interpretation.

Over the first 10 days of this month, the Twin Cities has experienced a remarkable string of late-year warmth, the likes of which hasn't been seen in nearly 60 years.

Of all the verbs that one uses with the phrase "October weather" in Minnesota -- "suffer," most often, "endure," if possible, and definitely, always, "bemoan" -- it's so rare that the word "enjoy" sneaks its way into our autumn sentences.

Paul Douglas, meteorologist and professional downer, wants to use a different word: Beware.
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Remember how much fun we had last year?

​It's practically summer outside today and the temperature is threatening to break the 132-year-old record high of 87 degrees.

So what better time to let everyone know that this winter is going to completely suck?

This morning, the website AccuWeather released its winter forecast predictions, which basically confirm all of our angst-y fall fears.

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