MARSHALL — Last month’s weather set new records around the region.

The city of Marshall was among the southwest Minnesota communities that experienced its warmest December on record, according to the National Weather Service office in Sioux Falls.

Meteorologist Jeff Chapman said Marshall’s coldest December temperature was 12 degrees, recorded on Dec. 11. By itself, that might sound pretty chilly — but Chapman said it was the warmest December low temperature on record for the city.

Marshall’s mean temperature for the month of December was 31.8 degrees, which was also above normal.

“A normal December has a mean temperature of 19.9 degrees,” Chapman said.

Chapman said the unusually warm temperatures in the region last month were influenced by larger weather systems affected by the El Nino climate pattern. This year, El Nino is “on the stronger scale,” he said.

“We just never got a surge of cold air, and we never got persistent snow cover going,” Chapman said.

Having snow cover on the ground helps keep temperatures from warming up again quickly, he said.

Marshall wasn’t the only southwest Minnesota city that had record warm temperatures last month. This week the NWS reported that Windom, Pipestone and Worthington’s low temperatures for December were the warmest recorded. In addition, all four cities also had the warmest December on record.

However, Chapman said temperatures over the next two weeks are going back to something a little more normal for January.

“It’s looking like it will be overall cooler the next couple of weeks, with periodic chances for some snow this week,” Chapman said.

The forecast in Marshall for the rest of this week shows temperatures in the 30s during the day, and into the teens and 20s overnight. There’s a chance of snow on Friday night going into Saturday.

Starting Sunday and into the early part of next week, temperatures start to get colder, with daytime highs near 27 degrees, and overnight lows around 15 degrees.