Traditional Minnesotan winter melts away under record high Christmas Day temperatures

Vehicles sank into frozen lakes and ice fishing trips were delayed as the ‘Twin Cities’ of Minneapolis and Saint Paul smashed through records

A Cessna plane sinks through the ice on Upper Red Lake in Washkish, Minnesota, 19 December 2023 (Beltrami County Sheriff's Office via AP)

The normally snowbound "Twin Cities" of Minnesota saw record Christmas Day temperatures as high as 54F, according to US officials.

The National Weather Service (NWS) office for the Minneapolis and Saint Paul urban area said on Monday that all three of its climate measurement sites had broken yuletide records this year.

Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport saw a high of 54F, breaking a record set in 1922, while the city of St Cloud recorded a high of 48F and Eau Claire, Wisconsin broke 53F.

The unexpected heat confounded locals preparing for the traditional freezing temperatures in one of the USA's most northerly and coldest states.

While high Christmas temperatures aren't unknown in the North Star State, experts said that climate change is making them more likely than ever before.

“It’s a big cultural shift to experience 50[F] yesterday and how disorienting that is from a geographic perspective,” Jessica Hellman, an environmental scientist at the University of Minnesota, told The New York Times.

“It’s a visceral feeling of what climate change looks and feels like for people who are accustomed to living in a particular climate.”

The NWS said that all three sites had also seen record high minimum temperatures, beating levels last seen in 1936 and 2014.

In Beltrami County last week, two people from Michigan attempted to land their small plane on a frozen lake for a day of ice fishing only to break through into the water beneath. Local officials said that both were able to escape.

In Becker County, a 67-year-old man was killed while attempting to drive his ATV on a frozen river, while ice fishing expeditions and winter festivals were delayed across the state.

In a post on Threads, the Twitter-like social network run by Instagram, lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan pointed out a more prosaic consequence.

"Thinking of all the Minnesota families who rely on using the porch as an extra freezer during Christmas entertaining when it’s almost 50 degrees," she said.