A Pair of Minnesota Traditions, The State Fair and Erratic Weather
By Jake Richards, IT Specialist Individual Placement / AmeriCorps Member placed at Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Division of Parks and Trails
All references to temperature are in Fahrenheit and shown with a degree symbol °
In the month of August, there are two things you can expect to hear from a Minnesotan. “Have ya made it out to the fair?” and “Man, what crazy weather we’ve had this summer.” These two phrases are deeply ingrained in Minnesota summer culture and having heard both a plethora of times this past week, along with my interest in the aftermath of a pair strong storms that went through the fairground last week, I want to dive into the history of weather at the Minnesota State Fair.
While this year there has been some volatile weather (more on that later), as I investigated the history of the weather during the weeks before Labor Day in Minnesota, I was surprised with what I found. According to CBS news, the historic average State Fair high is 79°, while the low is 61°. The hottest average temperatures came in 1931 with an average temp of 92.6° during the fair, while the lowest average temperature was in 1898 with an average high of 64.2°. With these older fairs it is important to note that the fair was shorter by a few days, however for 1931 all of the fair days were in September which is a significantly cooler month on average making it still a finding of interest. Before researching, I expected the average and peak temperatures to be higher but after seeing the real numbers, that must’ve been my own “alive in the 21st century” bias because of the intensifying effects of climate change. However, this wasn’t where the surprises ended…
Moving away from temperature, the next topic I want to talk about is severe weather at the fair. Before talking about the most recent instances, I want to briefly share the history of State Fair severe weather. Historically it rains on average 3-4 days during the fair, however there have not been many instances of severe weather at the fair in its history, which once again surprised me. According to the MNDNR Climate Journal, before 2024 there was only one instance of severe weather during a fair day which occurred when a hailstorm descended upon the fair in 1989, and two instances of storm damage affecting the fairground prior to opening day, in 1940 and 2007 where high wind thunderstorms damaged fair structures. However, in 2024 there have been two instances of weather impacting fairgoers. The first instance occurred on 8/26/24, when the whole Twin Cities was placed under two different severe thunderstorm warnings, one late in the evening on 8/26 and one in the early hours of 8/27. Strong winds and rain descended on the fairground, damaging various structures, and causing the fair to open 2 hours later than usual for the first time in history. The second severe weather instance took place the night of 8/29, as another strong storm rolled through the Twin Cities. This second set of storms brought another severe thunderstorm warning to the fairgrounds, however, even though this storm produced significant wind damage and even a few tornados just outside of the cities, its strength was concentrated away from the fair and no significant damage was reported. While the damage caused by the two 2024 storms was minor in the grand scheme of things, having two storms occur during the full week of the fair tells us that into the future, it is important to be weather aware at the State Fair!
Sources:
Minnesota State Fair opens late for the first time in history | kare11.com