A sluggish low pressure area meandered around the Upper Midwest from April 28th to May 1st. The result was nearly steady rain for two days across much of Minnesota. A wide swath of one to three inches of rain fell over a large chunk of the state. The far north was the only area that escaped most of the rain. One of the highest totals reported over the four day period was 3.20 inches at Brownton in McLeod County. The weather system weakened over Minnesota by Monday, May 1st but still brought some scattered showers.

The Twin Cities finished with the second rainiest April on record with 5.97 inches of precipitation. The wettest April on record for the Twin Cities is 7.00 inches set back in 2001. April was a mild month as well with the Twin Cities average temperature tying for third place with 1987 with 53.5 degrees. Second place is 53.9 in 1955 and the warmest April on record is 56.0 degrees in 1915. While much of central and southern Minnesota had a wet April, parts of northern Minnesota were below normal.

Not even a trace of snow was reported at the Twin Cities International Airport for the month of April. The last time the monthly snowfall total was "zero" for the Twin Cities in April was in 1976.

Listed below are National Weather Service Statements about the heavy rain and also a look back at April.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
230 PM CDT MON MAY 1 2006
EVEN THOUGH APRIL IS WELL KNOWN THROUGHOUT THE UPPER MIDWEST 
FOR A SIZABLE AMOUNT OF SPRING SHOWERS...THIS 
YEAR SAW A SOMEWHAT UNUSUAL PATTERN UNFOLD. THE 
BRUNT OF THE PRECIPITATION 
MATERIALIZED IN THE FIRST 5 TO 6 DAYS OF APRIL...
AND AGAIN TOWARD THE FINAL 3 DAYS OF THE MONTH...WITH 
AN ALMOST DROUGHT 
LIKE PERIOD IN BETWEEN.  THE FOLLOWING ARE PRECIPITATION 
TOTALS FROM THE RAIN EVENT WHICH OCCURRED FROM APRIL 28TH TO 7 AM THIS MORNING. 
LOCATION (MN)                    AMOUNT (INCHES)

AUGUSTA                                 0.96                          
ANOKA                                   2.05
ALBERT LEA                              1.48
ALEXANDRIA                              1.45
BENSON                                  1.85
ROYALTON                                2.46
BROWNTON                                3.20
BECHYN                                  2.17
CARLOS                                  1.87
BUFFALO                                 2.81
CHASKA                                  2.95
CHANHASSEN                              2.59
CARLOS                                  1.68
CANNON FALLS                            1.21
COSMOS                                  2.84
CRYSTAL                                 2.33
BECKER                                  2.85
DAWSON                                  1.74
DELANO                                  2.36
DASSEL                                  2.04
EAGAN                                   2.07
ELK RIVER                               2.32
EAST ST PAUL                            1.32
EDEN PRAIRIE                            2.25
FAIRMONT                                2.48
FOREST LAKE                             1.52
FARIBAULT                               0.99
FAIRMONT                                0.81
FRIDLEY                                 2.80
FORT SNELLING                           2.22
GLENCOE                                 2.85
GARDEN CITY                             1.71
GRANITE FALLS                           2.13
HENDERSON                               2.23
HASTINGS                                1.50
HUTCHINSON                              2.55
MORA                                    1.96
LITCHFIELD                              3.01
LAMBERTON                               2.38
LAC QUI PARLE                           1.56
LITTLE FALLS                            1.78
MADISON                                 1.50
MAYER                                   2.84
MONTGOMERY                              1.48
MORGAN                                  1.82
MINNEAPOLIS ARPT                        2.13
MANKATO                                 1.79
MILAN                                   2.24
MANANNAH                                2.38
MORRIS                                  1.10
MORTON                                  2.11
MOUND                                   2.59
MONTEVIDEO                              1.00
MOUNDS VIEW                             1.60
MAPLEWOOD                               2.24
NEW LONDON                              2.75
NEW ULM                                 1.86
ODESSA                                  0.94
ONAMIA                                  2.54
PROVIDENCE                              1.81
RAPIDAN                                 2.23
ROCKFORD                                2.35
RENVILLE                                2.19
ROSEMONT                                1.86
REDWOOD FALLS                           2.58
ST CLOUD STATE UNIV.                    2.30
ST CLOUD ARPT                           3.11
ST PAUL FORD PLANT                      2.60
ST PAUL MERRIAM PARK                    1.52
ST PAUL ARPT                            1.96                          
SPRINGFIELD                             2.06
ST PETER                                1.91
SHOREWOOD                               2.26
ST JAMES                                2.01
ST ANTHONY                              1.91
VESTA                                   1.93
WACONIA                                 2.12
WASECA                                  1.39
WANAMINGO                               1.07
WATERTOWN                               3.05
WILD RIVER STATE PARK                   0.76
WINNEBAGO                               2.14
ZUMBROTA                                1.35      
                                                                    
                                  
LOCATION (WI)                 AMOUNT (INCHES)         
BLOOMER                                 0.50
EAU CLAIRE ARPT                         0.66
LADYSMITH                               1.06
RIVER FALLS                             1.25
STANLEY                                 0.67
SPRING VALLEY                           1.38
WEYERHAEUSER                            0.66
WHEELER                                 0.97                                     
                                                                      
                                                                       
LOCATION (WI)                 AMOUNT (INCHES)         

BLOOMER                                 0.50
EAU CLAIRE ARPT                         0.66
LADYSMITH                               1.06
RIVER FALLS                             1.25
STANLEY                                 0.67
SPRING VALLEY                           1.38
WEYERHAEUSER                            0.66
WHEELER                                 0.97

HOW THE APRIL OF 2006 RANKS HISTORICALLY:

IT WAS A WET MONTH FOR MANY LOCATIONS ACROSS CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MINNESOTA
...WITH SEVERAL SITES REPORTING MONTHLY RAINFALL TOTALS ONE TO TWO INCHES 
ABOVE NORMAL. IN ADDITION...THE MONTHLY RAINFALL OF 5.97 INCHES AT THE 
MINNEAPOLIS ST PAUL AIRPORT WAS THE SECOND HIGHEST ON RECORD...FALLING 
SHORT ONLY TO A VALUE OF 7.0 INCHES RECORDED IN APRIL OF 2001. 
HERE ARE SOME SPECIFIC TOTALS FROM AROUND THE REGION:
STATION           APRIL 2006 RAINFALL         NORMAL       

MINNEAPOLIS         5.97 INCHES             2.31 INCHES 
CHANHASSEN          5.09 INCHES             NOT AVAILABLE
ST CLOUD            4.03 INCHES             2.13 INCHES
REDWOOD FALLS       4.12 INCHES             2.51 INCHES
ST PAUL             3.96 INCHES             2.54 INCHES 
ALEXANDRIA          2.23 INCHES             1.91 INCHES
EAU CLAIRE          2.03 INCHES             2.91 INCHES

IN ADDITION TO HAVING A CLIMATOLOGICALLY RARE MONTH FOR PRECIPITATION...THE 
MINNEAPOLIS ST PAUL AIRPORT ALSO TIED FOR THE THIRD WARMEST APRIL ON RECORD...
WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 53.5 DEGREES. THE NORMAL AVERAGE TEMPERATURE 
FOR THE MSP AIRPORT IS 46.6 DEGREES.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
245 AM CST MON MAY 1ST 2006 


...VERY WARM AND MOSTLY DRY APRIL ACROSS THE NORTHLAND...

THE AVERAGE APRIL TEMPERATURE AT DULUTH WAS 45.7 DEGREES WHICH IS
6.7 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. THIS TIES WITH APRIL OF 1955 AS THE 2ND 
WARMEST APRIL OF ALL-TIME. THE WARMEST APRIL WAS IN 1987 WITH AN 
AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 46.1 DEGREES.

INTERNATIONAL FALLS ALSO HAD A VERY WARM APRIL...WITH AN AVERAGE
TEMPERATURE OF 46.2 DEGREES WHICH IS 6.9 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. THIS 
WILL ALSO MAKE THE RECORD BOOKS AS THE 4TH WARMEST APRIL OF ALL-TIME
AT INTERNATIONAL FALLS. 

THE MILD TEMPERATURES RESULTED IN A NEARLY SNOWLESS MONTH AS BOTH
DULUTH AND INTERNATIONAL FALLS ONLY RECORDED A TRACE OF SNOWFALL.
DULUTH NORMALLY AVERAGES 6.3 INCHES OF SNOWFALL...WITH INTERNATIONAL 
FALLS NORMALLY RECEIVING 5.7 INCHES. THE LACK OF SNOW AT BOTH STATIONS 
WHILE NOT A RECORD...IS NOTEWORTHY. THIS IS THE LEAST SNOW IN DULUTH
DURING APRIL SINCE 1976 WHEN THERE WAS NO SNOWFALL RECORDED DURING THE
MONTH. THE ONLY OTHER INSTANCE OF NO SNOWFALL IN APRIL WAS BACK IN 1883.
DURING THE PERIOD FROM 1882-2006...THERE HAS BEEN 7 YEARS WITH ONLY A
TRACE OF SNOW...1892..1897..1899..1901..1905..1938 AND 2006. 
 
INTERNATIONAL FALLS LAST HAD A NEARLY SNOWLESS APRIL JUST RECENTLY IN
2004 WITH JUST A TRACE OF SNOW RECORDED. THERE HAVE BEEN 4 APRILS
DATING BACK TO 1909 WITH NO SNOWFALL RECORDED FOR THE MONTH. THESE
INCLUDE...1915..1926..1969 AND 1984. HOWEVER THE DATA BASE BEFORE
1940 CONTAINS A NUMBER OF YEARS WITH NO DATA AS THE STATION WAS EITHER
CLOSED OR OPERATED ON A PART TIME BASIS.

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URL: http://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/rain060501.htm
Last modified: May 1, 2006