“Nearly nine in 10 Minnesota communities have reported experiencing the impact of at least one weather trend caused by climate change, and few cities have defined plans to address it,” the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s 2025 Climate Resilience Survey released last week says.
More than 280 local and Tribal governments across Minnesota participated in the survey. It highlights a lack of resources and planning for addressing the impacts of climate change today and in the years ahead.
According to the MPCA, its key findings from the survey were:
– 88% of responding local governments said their residents have experienced the impacts of climate-related weather trends.
– 59% said they are experiencing more damaging storms.
– 56% reported more flooding in their communities.
– 51% said poor air quality has affected their residents.
While communities recognize the threats of climate change, few have taken steps to address its potential impacts, according to the MPCA. “Just 19% of local governments currently have a specific climate adaptation plan,” it said.
For most, the reason for a lack of planning comes as no surprise – other spending priorities and needs. Communities are already struggling just to upgrade existing, aging infrastructure, such as sewer, stormwater, and drinking water lines.
Minnesota’s goal is to ensure that 100% of its citizens live in climate-ready communities by 2030, the MPCA states. Funding the goal and turning it into a reality is a daunting challenge. That doesn’t mean communities shouldn’t discuss it.
They should adopt plans that ensure that, as old infrastructure is replaced, it is designed with the future extremes of weather we are likely to face in mind. This planning doesn’t just involve cities; it includes counties and townships.
“Minnesota, along with Maine, is one of the two fastest-warming states in the fall in the lower 48,” Meteorologist Sven Sundgaard writes. “Just like in summer, average fall temperatures are rising because we’re seeing fewer cool days. But unlike summer, fall also shows dramatically more warm extremes. On average, we’re seeing 24 more above-normal days in fall compared to a half-century ago. That’s more than a quarter of the season.”
“If you break it up month by month, the biggest change we’ve seen is September,” said Pete Boulay, assistant state climatologist with the Minnesota State Climate Office. “September is evolving into an extension of summer.”
Average temperatures for the fall season have been increasing by about one degree per decade since 1970.
“Averages used to be, statewide, about 55 degrees,” Boulay said. “Now we’re about 61 degrees for September temperatures, and we’ve had a lot warmer than cooler Septembers since 2010.”
For parts of western Minnesota, six of the eight warmest Septembers since the early 1950s have occurred since 2004. of the warm.
Prior to 2000, the average date of the first fall frost in western Minnesota was Sept. 27. Over the last 16 years, the date of the last frost has become considerably later. Eleven of those 16 years have seen the first frost of the fall come in October, including in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
Ice-in dates, the dates on which lakes freeze over, are getting later, and ice-off dates are getting earlier. According to the DNR, ice-in dates have gotten nine days later since 1967. Ice-off dates have gotten four to five days earlier since 1967, it says.
According to the DNR, “average temperatures in Minnesota have warmed by nearly 3 degrees since 1895. At the same time, the state has experienced increases in precipitation, getting an average of 3.4 inches wetter. While Minnesota has gotten warmer and wetter since 1895, the most dramatic changes have come in the past several decades.”
Each of the top 10 warmest and wettest years on record in Minnesota has occurred since 1998, according to the DNR. It is these increasingly extreme wet years that are the most significant challenge and threat.
Heavy rainfall this spring and summer caused damage to county and township roads, ditch systems, tile systems, and culverts. Crops in low-lying areas were drowned. All these events increase maintenance costs for counties, townships, and rural landowners. They meant replanting crops and lower yields.
Rainfall was extraordinary in parts of western Minnesota this spring and summer. The North Dakota Agricultural Network map showed areas of southern Pope County with 21.7 inches of rain between June 1 and Aug. 20. Rainfall amounts of 15 inches during the period were not uncommon. The West Central Research and Outreach Center near Morris saw 9.6 inches of rain in July alone.
This year’s heavy rains resulted in the Morris golf course being closed for more than half the season, with the Benson Golf Course also experiencing multiple days of unplayable conditions.
State climatologists say a “mega-rain” event occurs when at least 6 inches of rain falls over an area of at least 1,000 square miles. These torrential rain events have caused dangerous flash floods, destroyed dams, and led to raw sewage flowing into rivers.
According to the Minnesota State Climatology Office, we’ve experienced 21 mega-rain events between 1973 and 2024, with 16 of these occurring since 2000. “This data shows that mega-rains have been three times as frequent in the last 24 years as in the 37 years between 1973 and 1999,” it says.
While we will likely experience increased rainfall, we may also see deeper and more prolonged droughts as the climate continues to change. Wildfire chances will increase.
“The decades ahead will bring even warmer winters and nights, and even larger rainfalls, along with the likelihood of increased summer heat and the potential for longer dry spell,” the DNR says.
The number of days we are now seeing with dewpoints in the 70s and temperatures in the 90s, creating dangerous heat indices of 100 to 115 degrees, is increasing.
Warmer winters mean more pests that bring diseases to humans and crops, establishing themselves in our changed environment.
Now is the time to plan for these threats.
