SUBJECT: Welcome back to reality
December 2000 is 3rd coldest, 6th snowiest December in St. Cloud history
December 2000 and 2000 annual St. Cloud weather summary
(NOTE: Due to automated observations, the snowfall and precipitation figures,
which were supplemented with cooperative observing reports, are unofficial until
mid-January.)
Everyone had cautioned us not to expect another mild winter. Even normal
winter temperatures would have been a shock to us. However, were you ready for
this?! December 2000 in Saint Cloud was the third coldest December of the 120
years on record. The average temperature of 3.8 degrees for the month was more
than 11 degrees below normal. I've been comparing this winter to January
weather, but the average December temperature would have been more than four
degrees colder than the average January. The only Decembers which have been
colder were 1927 and 1983. The latter year is still the coldest December on
record and holds many daily temperature records, including all but one of the
daily low temperature records for December 17-24. These statistics are
consistent with most of Minnesota for which December 2000 ranked second coldest
ever in Minneapolis-St. Paul and in the top 5 statewide.
How cold was it? Saint Cloud has not had a 20-degree high since December 9
or a normal high since December 4. The low temperature of -26 on Christmas
morning 2000 broke the record low for the day. In fact, it was the coldest
temperature recorded at Saint Cloud since December 26, 1996 when the temperature
dropped to -34. December 25th was one of two mornings this month with a low
colder than -20. During the previous three winters, there have been a TOTAL of 4
days with a low of at least -20. There were 3 days with a high of zero or colder
in December 2000. During the previous 3 winters, there were a TOTAL of 5 days
with a sub-zero high (none during the 1999-2000 winter). During December 2000,
there were 19 days with a low temperature of 0 or colder. In the entire cold
season of 1997-1998, there were only 16 days with zero or colder lows. With a
total of 20 sub-zero low days during this cold season, we will surely exceed the
total of sub-zero lows for the entire 1998-1999 (29) and 1999-2000 (25) seasons
before the end of January.
December 2000 also was a very white month. Eighteen inches of snow
accumulated during the month in Saint Cloud, tying December 1945 for the sixth
snowiest December in the 101 years of Saint Cloud snowfall records. This makes
December 2000 the snowiest December since 1968 and 1969, which each had more
than 25 inches for the month. Ironically, can you believe we lucked out several
times? Several major storms hit in a band to our south, so Minneapolis had its
second snowiest December (and fifth snowiest of any month), and Rochester,
Indianapolis, Chicago, and other cities had their snowiest Decembers. These
cities had anywhere from 25 to over 30 inches of snowfall this month.
The 7.5-inch snowfall on December 28 was the largest snowfall of the year
and the largest single storm snowfall since the 9.8 inches on March 8-9, 1999.
This snowfall brings the 2000-2001 seasonal snowfall to 28.6 inches, topping the
28.1 inches during the entire 1999-2000 cold season.
DECEMBER 2000 ST CLOUD STATISTICS
TEMPERATURE (F) DEC 2000 NORMAL
Average high 11.7 23.1
Average low -4.1 5.0
Monthly average 3.8* 14.1
*3rd coldest December of 120 years on record (see table below)
Warmest high 34 on the 4th
Coldest high -4 on the 12th (tied record; see below)
Mildest low 16 on the 3rd
Coldest low -26 on the 25th (broke record; see below)
Daily records set:
Record cold low -16 on the 12th (old record: -15 in 1962)
-26 on the 25th (old record: -25 in 1968 and
1996)
Record cold high -4 on the 12th (tied record set in 1922)
Record cold mean -10 on the 12th (old record: -7 in 1922)
MELTED PRECIPITATION (in) DEC 2000 NORMAL
Total melted precip .84 .83
Most in 24 hours .33 on the 29th
SNOWFALL (in)
Total snowfall 18.0** 8.9
Most in 24 hours 7.5 on the 28th (broke record; see below)
Seasonal (2000-2001) 28.5 16.2
**tied for 6th snowiest in 101 years of records (see table below)
Daily records set:
Daily snowfall 7.5 in on the 28th (old record: 4.8 in—1982)
ST. CLOUD TEMPS--DECEMBER (120 YEARS; AVG = 16.1 F; SDEV = 5.9 F)
WARMEST COLDEST
28.6 F 1913 -0.4 F 1983
27.8 F 1939 3.1 F 1927
27.3 F 1891 3.8 F 2000 ? 3rd coldest on
27.2 F 1931 4.0 F 1985 record
27.0 F 1881 4.2 F 1924
26.1 F 1959 4.5 F 1886
25.6 F 1918 6.4 F 1917
25.2 F 1894 7.3 F 1976
25.0 F 1923 7.4 F 1884
24.3 F 1889 7.7 F 1972
ST. CLOUD TEMPS--FEWEST LOW TEMPERATURES OF 0 DEG OR LOWER
COLD SEASON
16 1997-1998
17 1986-1987
22 1918-1919
22 1941-1942
25 1999-2000
29 1908-1909
29 1990-1991
29 1998-1999
30 1931-1932
30 1982-1983
31 1937-1938
31 1943-1944
31 1957-1958
Total for 2000-2001 through December 31, 2000: 20 days
ST. CLOUD SNOWFALL--DECEMBER (101 YEARS; AVG = 7.4 IN; SDEV = 5.7 IN)
SNOWIEST DRIEST
25.5 IN 1927-1928 0.0 IN 1981-1982
25.4 IN 1968-1969 TRACE 1899-1900
25.0 IN 1969-1970 TRACE 1905-1906
21.8 IN 1950-1951 TRACE 1913-1914
19.0 IN 1936-1937 0.2 IN 1943-1944
18.0 IN 1945-1946 0.6 IN 1923-1924
18.0 IN 2000-2001 ? 6th snowiest 0.6 IN 1939-1940
17.8 IN 1978-1979 snowiest since 0.8 IN 1967-1968
15.1 IN 1996-1997 1969 1.0 IN 1952-1953
14.8 IN 1934-1935 1.0 IN 1960-1961
ST. CLOUD SNOWFALL(IN)
OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY TOTAL
1999-2000 0.0 1.1 4.5 5.6
2000-2001 0.0 10.6 18.0 28.6
NORMAL 0.5 6.8 8.9 10.1 7.0 9.8 2.3 0.1 45.5
2000 STILL ENDS UP AS A WARM, EXTREMELY DRY YEAR
These extremely cold statistics for December (and, to some degree,
November), partly offset the extremely warm first 5 months of the year. Still,
the 2000 average temperature ended up being 42.6 degrees, more than a degree
above normal. While 2000 ended up being colder than 1999 (3rd warmest on record)
and 1998 (tied for 8th warmest on record), it was warmer than every other year
between 1992 and 1997, the latter including the first part of our three
consecutive mild winters.
December's heavy snowfall could not offset the biggest Saint Cloud weather
news of the year: the drought. While the snowfall of December 2000 translated
into near normal melted precipitation for the month, the 2000 precipitation
total was 21.47 inches, nearly 6 inches below normal. This total ranks as the
23rd driest year of the 108 years on record or within the driest quarter of
years. More importantly, the growing season (April 1-October 31) rainfall, which
is most likely to find itself recharging ground water, totaled only 14.06
inches, the 5th driest total on record and nearly 8 inches below normal. This
drought was limited to the corridor between Little Falls and the northern Twin
Cities Metro during the spring and early summer, but greatly expanded during the
extremely dry September (tied for 9th driest on record in Saint Cloud) and first
half of October. These conditions led to numerous serious grass fires in central
Minnesota and a much more serious fire in the northern Twin Cities area. Despite
some helpful rains during the first half of November (daily record rainfall set
on the 1st and the 6th), the low water table will be a concern in the spring,
unless the snowpack continues to build so that we have to worry about flooding
during the spring melt.
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2000 WEATHER HIGHLIGHTS BY MONTH/SEASON
JANUARY - 5.0 inches of snow on the 12th set a new daily record
MARCH - Trace of snow for the month is only the 5th March in 109 years of St.
Cloud records ever that a trace or less of snow fell. March also ranked as the
third mildest March on record (nearly 10 degrees above normal) and the mildest
since 1918.
MARCH-MAY: Spring 2000 was the 11th warmest spring on record with a temperature
of 46.2 degrees (normal is 42.3 degrees)
JUNE: 94 on the 9th tied a record for the date and was the warmest temperature
of the year.
JULY: 57 as a high temperature on the 18th was a record cold high for the day
(old record: 67) and tied July 3, 1927 as the coldest July high on record.
AUGUST: August 2000 was the 10th driest August on record (1.20 inches, 2.76
inches below normal) and the driest August since 1981
SEPTEMBER: With only 0.93 inches of rainfall, September 2000 was the driest
September since 1952 and tied 1923 for the 9th driest on record.
OCTOBER: With the growing season complete (April 1-October 31), the 2000
rainfall total of 14.05 inches ranked as the 5th lowest growing season rainfall
on record and was nearly 8 ½ inches below normal. The temperature records
included a record high of 85 on the 19th and a record low of 16 on the 9th.
NOVEMBER: The drought was eased somewhat by daily record rainfall on the 1st
(.93 inches) and the 6th (1.09 inch). The total of 3.19 inches was the 6th
rainiest November on record. Two daily snowfall records were set: 2.0 inches on
the 7th and 3.0 inches on the 13th. The low on the 1st was 58, the mildest
November low on record. Also, the 3rd Minnesota tornado on record occurred in
Kandiyohi County on November 1, the same day that produced the only November
tornadoes in the history of North Dakota. On the other hand, the low of –3 on
the 21st also set a daily record.
2000 MONTHLY STATISTICS FOR ST. CLOUD
MONTH JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN
Avg High (F) 22.3 32.5 48.6 55.3 70.3 74.4
Normal High (F) 18.5 24.8 37.6 55.0 68.4 77.4
Avg Low (F) 1.0 11.5 26.4 31.0 45.6 49.9
Normal Low (F) -2.4 3.8 17.6 32.0 43.4 52.2
Avg Temp (F) 11.7 22.0 37.5 43.2 58.0 62.2
Normal Avg (F) 8.1 14.3 27.6 43.5 55.9 64.8
Precip (in) .76 1.03 1.61 1.01 2.96 3.10
Normal Pre (in) .74 .63 1.41 2.35 3.16 4.60
Snowfall (in) 10.8 8.4 T 3.3 0.0 0.0
Normal Snow (in) 10.1 7.0 9.8 2.3 0.1 0.0
MONTH JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC YEAR
Avg High (F) 80.6 81.7 71.9 60.5 34.9 11.7 53.7
Normal High (F) 82.6 79.4 69.1 57.4 39.0 23.1 52.7
Avg Low (F) 57.7 55.9 43.2 35.8 22.3 -4.1 31.3
Normal Low (F) 57.6 54.8 45.4 34.4 20.3 5.0 30.3
Avg Temp (F) 69.2 68.8 57.6 48.2 28.6 3.8 42.6
Normal Avg (F) 70.1 67.1 57.3 45.9 29.7 14.1 41.5
Precip (in) 3.24 1.20 0.93 1.60 3.19 .84 21.47
Normal Pre (in) 3.38 3.96 3.16 2.21 1.27 .83 27.43
Snowfall (in) 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 10.6 18.0 57.9
Normal Snow (in) 0.0 0.0 T 0.5 6.8 8.9 45.5
ST. CLOUD TEMPS--MARCH (120 YEARS; AVG = 27.2 F; SDEV = 5.5 F)
WARMEST COLDEST
43.0 F 1910 14.9 F 1899
37.8 F 1918 15.0 F 1888
37.5 F 2000 <-- 3RD WARMEST ON 15.7 F 1965
37.3 F 1973 RECORD; WARMEST 17.6 F 1960
36.7 F 1946 IN 82 YRS 18.1 F 1951
36.3 F 1902 18.4 F 1943
36.0 F 1911 18.5 F 1923
36.0 F 1968 18.8 F 1975
35.7 F 1987 19.0 F 1940
35.5 F 1981 19.4 F 1897
ST. CLOUD SNOWFALL--MARCH (101 YEARS; AVG = 8.2 IN; SDEV = 7.4 IN)
SNOWIEST DRIEST
51.7 IN 1964-1965 0.0 IN 1924-1925
36.0 IN 1916-1917 TRACE 1901-1902
28.1 IN 1950-1951 TRACE 1902-1903
22.8 IN 1984-1985 TRACE 1909-1910
19.4 IN 1974-1975 TRACE 1980-1981
17.7 IN 1907-1908 TRACE 1999-2000 <-- 2ND LOWEST TOTAL
16.1 IN 1994-1995 0.1 IN 1967-1968 ON RECORD (TIE)
15.7 IN 1951-1952 0.2 IN 1920-1921
15.5 IN 1919-1920 0.3 IN 1972-1973
15.3 IN 1963-1964 0.4 IN 1908-1909
ST. CLOUD PRECIP--SEPTEMBER (108 YEARS; AVG = 2.95 IN; SDEV = 1.88 IN)
WETTEST DRIEST
10.72 IN 1926 0.07 IN 1952
9.48 IN 1985 0.68 IN 1943
7.12 IN 1900 0.74 IN 1922
6.60 IN 1929 0.78 IN 1932
6.55 IN 1983 0.80 IN 1919
6.49 IN 1914 0.81 IN 1893
6.28 IN 1986 0.84 IN 1918
6.12 IN 1934 0.90 IN 1935
6.10 IN 1921 0.93 IN 1923
5.99 IN 1980 0.93 IN 2000 <-- TIED 9TH DRIEST;
DRIEST IN 48 YRS
GROWING SEASON PRECIP: APR-OCT
AVG = 21.95 SDEV = 5.27; 111 YRS; 108 GOOD YRS
TEN DRIEST YEARS
11.02 1976
12.80 1910
12.89 1922
13.57 1992
14.06 2000 <--5TH DRIEST ON RECORD
14.52 1996
14.83 1931
14.96 1988
15.00 1948
15.25 1930
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DARING (OR INSANE) PREDICTION FOR THE REST OF ST CLOUD'S WINTER
What does the rest of the winter look like? During the 14 previous Saint
Cloud winters which had at least 25 inches of snowfall through the end of
December, 13 ended up with an above normal snowfall year. The average snowfall
of those 14 winters was just about 60 inches with 10 of the 14 winters having a
snowfall between 53 and 70 inches. Since a cold season snowfall total of between
53 and 70 inches would be between 8 and 25 inches above normal, it certainly
looks like Saint Cloud is on track for a snowy winter. On the other hand, only 5
of the 10 snowiest winters had at least 25 inches by December. In fact, 2 of the
4 snowiest winters on record did not have at least 25 inches by December. In
1964-65, the snowiest winter in Saint Cloud history, only 12.4 inches had fallen
by the end of December. Only 2 of the 14 winters with at least 25 inches by the
end of December had more than 80 inches. So, while the outlook for this winter
would be snowy, it would not be extremely snowy.
Will the icebox weather pattern that has locked in a jet stream straight
from the Arctic Ocean quit? Of the winters which contained the 5 previous
coldest Decembers, four years had above normal January temperatures and three of
the 5 years had above normal February temperatures. This makes sense, since the
creation of extremely cold arctic air masses requires the air to stay over the
region without any sunlight for a week or two. Our pattern of constant movement
of arctic air into the United States limits the ability of the arctic air
generating region to produce new extremely cold arctic air masses. The warm-up
this week could be the first sign of this moderation. On the other hand, the
fifth of these cold December years was the winter of 1886-1887 which ranks as
the second coldest winter on record. Hopefully, there are no parallels from that
year to this one.
WINTERS WITH AT LEAST 25 INCHES OF SNOWFALL THROUGH DECEMBER IN SAINT CLOUD
SNOWFALL THROUGH DECEMBER TOTAL SEASON SNOWFALL
1911-1912 31.8 36.8
1927-1928 40.5 69.6 (5th)
1936-1937 37.4 84.5 (2nd)
1940-1941 32.4 54.0
1947-1948 26.9 46.7
1950-1951 30.2 82.0 (3rd)
1968-1969 31.1 66.9 (6th tie)
1969-1970 33.4 47.6
1982-1983 31.3 53.3
1983-1984 36.7 63.6
1985-1986 29.2 58.6
1988-1989 27.3 65.2 (9th)
1991-1992 32.7 54.5
1996-1997 28.5 62.8
2000-2001 28.6
Avg of previous winters 34.4 60.4
ST CLOUD'S OTHER 10 SNOWIEST WINTERS ON RECORD
1964-1965 12.4 87.9 (1st)
1916-1917 11.6 84.5 (4th)
1978-1979 22.5 66.9 (6th tie)
1974-1975 10.3 65.4 (8th)
1993-1994 22.8 64.9 (10th)
Figure in parenthesis is rank among 101 winters on record
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