Staff photo by Fritz Busch Courtland Township farmer Tim Waibel stands next to Kuester’s pond along Nicollet CR 12, northeast of his farm Wednesday afternoon as the temperature climbed into the 50s. Waibel said the recent warm weather is no early spring guarantee.

NEW ULM — Courtland Township farmer Tim Waibel liked the Wednesday afternoon sunshine that drove the temperature past 50 degrees so much, he jumped into his all-terrain vehicle and drove from his shop to nearby Kuester’s pond.

The pond was still covered with ice. Waibel said it can be popular for individuals interested in catching bait fish.

A few years ago, the pond would climb over CR 12. The county highway was recently raised and repaved.

“There is tile in here now that maintains water depth better than it used to be,” Waibel said.

He said the winter has had only about a week of ice-making weather so far.

Waibel said the warm weather has tempered winter heating costs more than other winters.

“I’m more concerned about what it does to trees. It can be hard on livestock like cows, with feet issues that can cause lameness when it gets muddy,” he added.

Waibel tried to keep from getting overly excited about the recent nice weather that melted just about all the area snow.

“Just because it’s warm now, doesn’t mean we’ll have an early spring (warm weather causing new plant growth), said Waibel.

“Like the old-timers say, 90 days from fog, we get rain,” he added.

It’s been warm since the cold snap a couple weeks ago. Much of Minnesota is still unusually dry.

“I heard some people are getting maple syrup near the Twin Cities. We need moisture,” said Waibel.

With the warmer winter weather, Waibel said he has been working on replacing rafter gussets in his pig barns and getting equipment ready for spring.

“With weather like this, we can do so much more outside. But it’s strange. I feel sorry for people up north trying to make a living off winter ice fishing,” said Waibel.

Essig farmer Justin Remus talked about the pluses and minuses of the warmer than usual winter weather.

“We’re doing more outside maintenance than we usually do this time of year. We’re just trying to get caught up on work we put off in the fall, although we had a pretty decent fall. We’re getting equipment geared up for corn and soybeans including custom work we do including planting and tillage acres,” said Remus.

“The biggest thing is if this warm weather stays around, we don’t have deep frost when we get into the field,” he added.

“A drawback is, if there isn’t a big winter bug kill due to lack of frost, we may see more insecticide use to cut insect pressure in the soil,” said Remus.

South Central College Agricultural Business Management instructor Wayne Schoper said more moisture is needed in February and March for good planting.

“We haven’t got a lot of cold weather, snow or ice yet, but I think we’ll get good planting moisture,” said Schoper.

He said this isn’t the first time for warm winter weather in recent history.

“It happens. We had winters like this in the early 1980s. Some farmers were putting tile in the ground the first week of January,” said Schoper.

“We may have more snow and cold to make up for this warm weather. For the foreseeable future, it’s pleasant. Hopefully, it means an early spring for farmers to get out and do field work,” he added.

Local temperatures have been up to 20 degrees above normal in January. More average temperatures (high 29, low 10 degrees) are expected around Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14).

December 2023 was also “off the charts” for warmth and lack of snow, breaking records in much of Minnesota, according to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

“In many regards, December was more like November in Minnesota. It was not just warm, it was persistently warm, at times extremely warm,” reported the DNR.

Changing climate and cyclical weather patterns had much to do with Minnesota’s warm winter, read the report.

Meteorologist Sven Sundgaard reported five of the 15 warmest Minnesota winters happened since 2002.

He said a warm February could make this the warmest winter ever recorded if the average temperature is at least three degrees above normal.