Rain, Rain, Go Away (Long streaks of consecutive rain)

A very stubborn cut-off low pressure area meandered throughout the upper Midwest for a week. This low kept enough moisture in the system to give Minnesota periodic rains. The most persistent were over eastern Minnesota from May 20th to May 26. By Sunday, May 27th, the low pressure area had moved far enough to the east over Michigan and Minnesota began to dry out. Here are some statistics for the Twin Cities Metro Area. These statistics are based on 1891 to 2001 data.

Most Consecutive Days of .25 Inches Of Rain or More.

May 2001, set a record for having the most consecutive days of rain totaling .25 inches or more in the Twin Cities. From 5/20/2001 to 5/25/2001 there were 6 consecutive days with .25 or more of precipitation. The previous streak was 5 days set three different times. These were from 6/29/1903 to 7/4/1903, 6/3/1940 to 6/7/1940 and 6/23/1951 to 6/27/1951.

Most Consecutive Days of Any Measurable Precipitation.

How about for most consecutive days with any measurable precipitation? This May fell two days short matching the record. Ending on May 26, 2001 the Twin Cities had 8 consecutive days with rainfall. This hasn't happened for 35 years. The last time the Twin Cities had a streak of 8 consecutive days of rainfall was May 10th through the 17th in 1966. The record is 10 days set in June 1951 from June 18 to June 27th.

Most Consecutive Months One Inch of Precipitation or More.

Finally, another record was broken and is still ongoing. May 2001, marks the 16th consecutive month with precipitation totaling 1 inch or more. This streak breaks the old record of 14 consecutive months ending in March, 1952. There have been 7 years in the last 110 years with 11 months with at least 1.00 inches, the most recent was last year. There has never been a year with all 12 months having at least 1.00 inches of precipitation. Will 2001 break this record? Stay tuned.

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URL: http://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/morewet010529.htm
Last modified: May 29, 2001