2013 14 Was One Of The Coldest Winters In Minnesota History

When a polar vortex reached its frigid fingers down from the arctic in 2013-14, it gripped the Upper Midwest and caused one of the coldest winters in Minnesota history, sinking the North Star State into several long stretches of sub-zero temperatures.

Minnesotans are accustomed to cold winters, but the winter of 2013-14 was one of the coldest on record.

Minnesota DNR - National Climate Data Center It was the kind of cold that happens maybe once in a generation.

The state hadn’t seen such long stretches of below-zero weather in more than four decades.

Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Between December and March, the Twin Cities recorded 53 days on which the minimum temperature was at or below zero.

Stephen Maturen/Getty Images This tied a 1978 record for the fifth-most days below zero. The top-four longest cold streaks all occurred between 1873 and 1888, or about 130 years earlier.

Farther north, though, things got really serious. International Falls tied its record for the most-ever days at or below zero degrees, with 92.

shaunl/Getty Images Places like Babbitt and Kabetogama recorded more than 100 days at zero degrees Fahrenheit, or colder, during the winter of 2013-14. Can you imagine - more than three months below zero?

In addition to the cold air temperatures, Minnesota saw plenty of snowfall - and the wind chills were brutal.

Trent Jonas/Google Grand Marais recorded the state’s lowest wind chill, -63° Fahrenheit, during the 2013-14 deep freeze.

Because of the cold and wind chills, several school districts set pre-pandemic records for the number of school days canceled. In some cases, buses wouldn’t even start.

shaunl/Getty Images Poor kids - it wasn’t even fun, like a snow day. It was too cold to go outside, and to add insult to injury, make-up days ate into students’ spring breaks and summer vacations.

During the winter of 2013-14, Lake Superior, the world’s largest freshwater lake by surface area, reached 95 percent ice coverage.

Orchidpoet/Getty Images It was the first time the lake had frozen over completely in nearly 20 years.

At least there’s plenty to do during the winter in Minnesota.

Minnesota DNR - National Climate Data Center

It was the kind of cold that happens maybe once in a generation.

Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

This tied a 1978 record for the fifth-most days below zero. The top-four longest cold streaks all occurred between 1873 and 1888, or about 130 years earlier.

shaunl/Getty Images

Places like Babbitt and Kabetogama recorded more than 100 days at zero degrees Fahrenheit, or colder, during the winter of 2013-14. Can you imagine - more than three months below zero?

Trent Jonas/Google

Grand Marais recorded the state’s lowest wind chill, -63° Fahrenheit, during the 2013-14 deep freeze.

Poor kids - it wasn’t even fun, like a snow day. It was too cold to go outside, and to add insult to injury, make-up days ate into students’ spring breaks and summer vacations.

Orchidpoet/Getty Images

It was the first time the lake had frozen over completely in nearly 20 years.

Were you around for that brutal 2013-14 winter? What do you remember about it?

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