FROM: Bob Weisman
Earth Sciences - St. Cloud State University
DATE: 3 July 2000
SUBJECT: Cool temperatures partially offset continued dryness
June 2000 St. Cloud weather summary
After all of the talk about global warming, St. Cloud didn't get
much warming when it's expected to be hot. The June 2000 average temperature
at the St. Cloud Municipal Airport was 62.2 degrees, more than two and a half
degrees below normal. This made June 2000 the coolest June since 1993, the
year of the persistent clouds associated with the Missouri and Missippippi
River floods. June also was the second month of the past three with a below
normal temperature. Only the weekend of June 7-10 felt like a summer month as
temperatures broke 90 degrees twice and tied a record on the 9th. From then on,
the high temperature only broke 80 three times and never exceeded 85 degrees.
Despite seemingly endless rainfall, St. Cloud only recorded 3.10
inches of rain for the month, which is 1 1/2 inches below normal. There were
15 days with measurable rainfall, which exceeds the average June total of
11 days, but 9 days had rainfall of less than .15 inch. This low total
brings the growing season rainfall to only a touch over 7 inches, more than
3 inches below normal. The cooler temperatures helped a bit by reducing the
moisture lost to evaporation, but the usable moisture deficit from last
fall has continued well into the 2000 growing season.
Overall, the cool conditions were caused by an unusual southern
position to the storm track for much of the month. This pattern set up
many storms over Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, and southern Missouri, which has
greatly helped to ease the severe drought conditions of the winter and spring
in those areas. However, as noted by the flooding rains in the Fargo-Moorhead
area and those in southeastern Minnesota, rain has often hit Minnesota. St.
Cloud's dryness is typical of a swath in Central Minnesota bounded approximately
by Wheaton, Ortonville, Moose Lake, and North Branch. In between those four
points, rainfall has been below normal and less than 75% of normal in a patch
which includes much of Stearns, Wright, and Sherburne Counties.
JUNE STATISTICS JUNE 2000 NORMAL
TEMPERATURE ( F)
Average high temp 74.4 77.4
Average low temp 49.9 52.2
Average temp 62.2 64.8
Hottest high temp for the month 94 on the 9th (tied record; see below)
Coolest high temp for the month 53 on the 4th
Warmest low temp for the month 61 on the 20th
Coolest low temp for the month 36 on the 5th
Records:
Daily warm high: 94 on the 9th (tied record set in 1973, 1976)
Daily cold high: 62 on the 15th (tied record set in 1926, 1974)
PRECIPITATION (IN) JUNE 2000 NORMAL
Total for month 3.10 4.60
Maximum daily amount .72 on the 13th
Growing Season (Apr 1-Jun 30) 7.07 10.11
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