Saint
Cloud Forecasts
NWS
SCSU/Weisman| |
Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department | |
| Saint
Cloud Forecasts
|
||
| NWS |
SCSU/Weisman |
|
Fourth Northern
Plains Winter Storm Conference: 9-10 Nov 2009 in Saint Cloud! |
||||
| This Month's Daily Statistics |
|
SUBJECT: Is the ark done yet? Record April
Rainfall in Saint Cloud
St. Cloud April 2001 Weather Summary Saint Cloud made up for two consecutive dry growing seasons by enduring the rainiest April in the 109 years of Saint Cloud records. According to the statistics at the Saint Cloud Airport, there were 8.42 inches of rainfall in April, nearly three-and-a-half times the normal rainfall and exceeding the previous record of 8.31 inches set in April 1928. April 2001 was the rainiest month in Saint Cloud since June 1990 when 10.52 inches fell. April 2001 also ranks as the 15th rainiest month on record in Saint Cloud. Believe or not, the Saint Cloud State University rain gauge was even more active in April, recording 8.81 inches of rainfall in April. More than half of the rain fell during a series
of three consecutive storms on April 19 through 23. The rainfall for this
period totaled 4.89 inches, including 3.52 inches during April 22. On that
Sunday, Saint Cloud set a record for daily rainfall in April by more than
an inch. In addition, this was the first daily rainfall exceeding 3 inches
ever recorded outside of the months of June through September. April 22
also marked the heaviest daily rainfall total since September 8, 1985. Of
course, the April 22 rainfall set a daily record, the third April day of
2001 to see a new rainfall record set, and ranked as the 8th heaviest
daily rainfall in Saint Cloud history (see details on records
below).
The combination of the heavy rains and the
unusually high snowpack, which rapidly completed its melting during the
first heavy rain period of April 5-7, led to major river flooding on the
Sauk and Mississippi Rivers, especially in the Little Rock Lake area. The
further rainfall over saturated ground led to overland flooding of many
areas in central Minnesota.
Temperatures for April 2001 averaged a degree
warmer than normal in Saint Cloud. The month began very chilly with near
record lows on the first and second and nearly a record cold high on the
16th. However, this was balanced by a warm spell during the last week,
including a new record mild low and a record high average temperature tied
on the 29th. Overall, the daily range of temperature (the difference
between the average high and the average low) was three degrees below
normal, a characteristic which would be expected during an extremely rainy
month when there is a lot of clouds and lingering moisture on the
ground.
Only a trace of snow was recorded in April
2001. Assuming no May snowfall, although snow has been reported on
occasion in Saint Cloud during May, Saint Cloud will finish the cold
season with 56.6 inches of snow, 11 inches higher than normal.
MONTHLY STATISTICS APR 2001 NORMAL TEMPERATURE (oF)
Average high
temp
54.5
55.0
Average low
temp
34.4
32.0
Overall
average
44.5
43.5
Warmest high
temperature
84 on the 29th
Coolest high
temperature
34 on the 16th
Mildest low
temperature
60 on the 29th (broke daily record; see below)
Coldest low
temperature
25 on the 18th
Records set: Daily record warm
low:
60 on the 29th (old record: 59 in 1934)
Daily record warm
mean:
72 on the 29th (tied old record set in 1934)
PRECIPITATION
Total melted precip
(in)
8.42**
2.36
Most in 24
hours
3.52 on the 22nd (set records; see below)
**Most ever in April; 15th rainiest month in Saint
Cloud reporting history
Records set:
Highest daily rainfall total in April:
3.52 on the 22nd (old record: 2.47 on April 26, 1984)
Record daily
rainfall:
1.10 on the 7th (old record: 0.68 in 1919)
1.30 on the 13th (old record: 0.70 in 1896)
3.52 on the 22nd (old record: 1.08 in 1985)
SNOWFALL (in) Trace Trace Most in 24
hours
Trace on the 16th
Seasonal snowfall
(Oct-Apr)
56.6
45.6
ST. CLOUD PRECIP--APRIL (109 YEARS; AVG = 2.24 IN; SDEV = 1.44 IN) WETTEST DRIEST * 8.42 IN 2001 ** 0.05 IN 19876.31 IN 1896 0.08 IN 1926 5.74 IN
1893
0.21 IN 1907
5.55 IN
1986
0.25 IN 1934
5.31 IN
1954
0.32 IN 1898
4.93 IN
1894
0.34 IN 1959
4.68 IN
1991
0.46 IN 1933
4.51 IN
1968
0.48 IN 1980
4.40 IN
1947
0.59 IN 1930
4.16 IN
1984
0.67 IN 1996
HEAVIEST DAILY RAINFALL TOTALS IN SAINT CLOUD HISTORY AMOUNT (in) DATE |
Return to top of page
All climate data provided courtesy of NOAA/NWS
and Minnesota Climatology
Working Group, including the Minnesota State Climatologist's Office,
University of Minnesota-Saint Paul Campus.
Interested in an undergraduate degree in meteorology?
Send comments
to: raweisman@stcloudstate.edu
Last updated: 28-December-2002
Background courtesy of aaa-backgrounds.com