Believe it or not, this is a "normal" winter so far!

Yes, this has been an "interesting" three-week period of winter weather in Decorah.  But Decorah meteorologist Richard Bernatz says when you consider the entire stretch of winter so far from November 1st through January 31st, the winter is...average.

That's right, statistics for 15 different ways of calculating winter severity put the 2018-2019 winter 61st out of 126 years for which weather records have been kept in Decorah--pretty much right in the middle.

Decorah has had 20.7 inches of snowfall through January 31st--the average is 21.3 inches.  There have been 12 days of measurable snow--the average is 11.

Of course, there are some chilly statistics.  There have been four days since November 1st on which the low temperature was --20 or lower, which was twice the average.  And the low temperature of --37 degrees on January 31st was, as Bernatz puts it, "notable."

Of course, there's still two months of winter to go (maybe).  Bernatz says he'll be calculating winter severity for November through March after we reach April.  We could still get wintry weather after March 31st, but that won't count in the winter weather statstics.