Call it the winter that wasn't

Just how mild a winter has the winter of 2015-2016 been?  Decorah weather observer Richard Bernatz has crunched numbers from November 1st through February 29th.

Bernatz says this winter ranked 118th out of 123 years for severity for winters when weather statistics have been kept.  Bernatz used 15 weighted measures, including high temperatures, low temperatures and snowfall figures.

This winter has been ranked "mild" by Bernatz in part because there have been only eleven days when the low temperature was below zero.  Also, the total snowfall of 20.3 inches was 8.8 inches less than the average of 29.1 inches of snowfall and way below the record-setting winter of 1996-1997, when Decorah received 52.3 inches of snowfall.