Relocating

When people talk about living in Minnesota, weather is often the first topic of conversation… whether they already live here or are thinking about moving here. In fact, ‘weather fear’ is one reason people turn down jobs here. Let’s get some weather extremes out of the way right away… no, it isn’t cold here all the time. However, Minnesota does experience a wide range of weather extremes, with an amazing range of 174 degrees F between our record highest and lowest temperatures… no wonder weather is often a topic of conversation!

Minnesota weather records (none of them set in the Twin Cities) include …

• Highest temperature: 114 degrees F, in 1917 and 1936
• Lowest temperature: -60 degrees F, in 1996
• Largest single-day temperature change: 71 degree F drop, in 1982
• Earliest measurable snow: September 14, 1964
• Latest recorded snow: June 4, 1935

• First children’s department in a library was in the Minneapolis Public Library in 1889
• Twin Cities is home to the oldest continuously running theater  (Old Log Theater) and the largest dinner theater in the country (Chanhassen Dinner Theater)
• The Guthrie Theater is the largest regional playhouse in the country
• Minneapolis has more golfers per capita than any other city in the country
• First Minnesota game of golf was played at Town & Country Club in St. Paul in 1893
• The Mall of America is the size of 78 football fields
• Minnesota has 90,000 miles of shoreline, more than California, Florida and Hawaii combined
• Minnesota has one recreational boat for every six people, more than any other state
• Southdale, built in 1956, was the first enclosed climate-controlled shopping center
• Tonka trucks were developed and continue to be manufactured in Minnetonka
• The first home to have air conditioning in the US was the Gates Mansion at 2501 Lake of the Isles Parkway, built in 1913 and demolished  in 1933
• Rollerblades were invented in 1980 by two Minnesota students looking for a way to practice hockey in the off-season
• The nation’s first Better Business Bureau was founded in Minneapolis in 1912
• The first open heart surgery and first bone marrow transplant both were done at the University of Minnesota
• The pacemaker was invented in 1957 by Medtronic founder Earl Bakken in his garage
• The first practical water skis were invented in Minnesota in 1922
• The first snowblower designed for home use and the first practical snowmobile were invented in Minnesota in the 1950s
• Minnesota has more Fortune 500 companies per capita than any other state in the country
• The first Super Computer, introduced in 1963, was designed by Control Data Corp of Minneapolis
• The oxygen mask was invented in 1935 by three Mayo Clinic physicians for Northwest Airlines
• The stapler, post-it notes, scotch tape, Wheaties cereal, Bisquick, HMOs, the bundt pan, Aveda beauty products and Green Giant vegetables all originated in Minnesota
• Known as “The Great Minnesota Get-Together,” the Minnesota State Fair is the largest state fair in the United States by average daily attendance
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