TO: University Communications

 

FROM: Bob Weisman, Earth Sciences

 

DATE: 2 April 2001

 

SUBJECT: The “endless winter” rolls on

       March 2001 St. Cloud weather summary

 

      Saint Cloud’s first real winter in the past 4 seasons continued with

cold and dry conditions during March 2001. The average March 2001 temperature

at the Saint Cloud Regional Airport was 23.6 degrees, exactly 4 degrees below

normal. March 2001 also had exactly the same average temperature as March 1996, the last time Saint Cloud had a March this cold. March 2001 marked the third of the past 4 months that had significantly below normal temperatures.

       On the other hand, Saint Cloud got a break on snowfall during March 2001.

Only 6.6 inches of new snow fell during March 2001, more than 3 inches below normal. Almost all of the snowfall occurred during the storm of March 12 and 13, accounting for 5.8 of the 6.6 inches during the month. The 2.9 inches of snowfall on the 12th set a new daily snowfall record, breaking the old record of 2.3 inches on March 12, 1954. The seasonal snowfall now stands at 56.6 inches, more than 11 inches above normal. The last cold seasons with snowfall this high were 1995-96 (58.9 inches) and 1996-97 (62.8 inches).

        The mid-March snowfall was a disappointment in that Saint Cloud had melted 6 of the 23 inches on the ground in late February before getting it back. However, only 0.8 inches fell the rest of the month. The dry but cool conditions allowed the snowpack to melt slowly, diminishing to 10 inches by March 31. Many bare spots have been revealed in the city on the sunny sides of streets and near areas that were plowed. Still, the 10 inches on the ground is within the highest 20% for snow depth at the end of March.

        Melted precipitation in Saint Cloud amounted to only 0.77 inches, slightly more than half of normal. More than 40% of the monthly precipitation was dropped during the last day of the month as a rain changing to wet snow event dropped 0.34 inch of liquid, but only produced 0.6 inches of snow.

        The cool, dry conditions were caused partially by a continuation of the pattern similar to most of the winter: a steering wind from the Yukon Territories, allowing what was left of the arctic air to visit Minnesota during the month. When milder flow patterns took hold, again Saint Cloud was held back by the deep snow cover which produced fog and chilled the layers of the atmosphere nearest the ground. Still, the stronger March sun allowed snowmelt to take place, even when high temperatures were below freezing.

 

 

===========================================================================

MARCH 2001 STATISTICS           MAR 2001        NORMAL

TEMPERATURE

Average High                     33.0           37.6

Average Low                      14.2           17.6

Average Temp                     23.6           27.6

Warmest high temperature          44 on the 14th

Coldest high temperature          18 on the 24th and 25th

Mildest low temperature           28 on the 19th

Coldest low temperature           -1 on the 11th

 

 

MELTED PRECIP (in)               0.77            1.41

Most in 24 hours                 0.34 on the 31st

 

SNOWFALL (in)                     6.6             9.8

Most in 24 hours                  2.9 on the 12th and 13th

Daily record snowfall:            2.9 on the 12th (old record: 2.3 inches

                                                  in 1954)

Seasonal Snowfall (Oct-Mar)      56.6            43.1

 

             ST. CLOUD SNOWFALL(IN)

           OCT  NOV  DEC  JAN  FEB  MAR  APR  MAY  TOTAL

1999-2000  0.0  1.1  4.5 10.8  8.4   T   3.3  0.0   28.1

2000-2001  0.0 10.6 16.2  5.4 17.8  6.6             56.6

NORMAL     0.5  6.8  8.9 10.1  7.0  9.8  2.3  0.1   45.5