SUBJECT: February 1997 Warmer and Drier
         St. Cloud February 1997 and Winter 96-97 Summary

        After a snowy and cold start to winter, February 1997 was a welcome
break in St. Cloud. The average temperature was more than 2.5 degrees above
normal. The stretch of mild weather included 6 days with a high above 
freezing, including 2 days with a high over 40, and only one day with the
high in the single digits. There were only 10 days with a low temperature
of zero or below (normally in February, there are 13 days with sub-zero
lows).
        In addition, the snow pace slowed down. After accumulating more
than a season's worth of snow in November through January, only 2.9 inches
of snow fell in St. Cloud in February, about one-third of the normal
total, and it melted to only 0.25 inches of melted precipitation. The
totals would have been even lower if it wasn't for the wet snow and
rain storm of February 28. Much more mild and dry weather will be needed
to slowly melt the snowpack and avoid flooding problems in the next month.
        Despite the February conditions, the winter of 1996-97 (November 1-
February 28) ended up being cold (almost 2 degrees below normal) and
snowy (over 37 inches for the year, almost 50% higher than normal). The
seasonal snowfall stands at 50.7 inches, while the normal for the entire
year is 44.8 inches.
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FEBRUARY 1997 STATISTICS        FEB 1997        NORMAL
TEMPERATURE
Average High                     25.4           24.8
Average Low                       6.5            3.8
Average Temp                     16.0           14.3
Warmest high temperature          43 on the 18th
Coldest high temperature           8 on the 12th
Mildest low temperature           26 on the 20th
Coldest low temperature          -13 on the 15th

MELTED PRECIP (in)               0.25            0.74
Most in 24 hours                 0.17 on the 28th

SNOWFALL (in)                    2.9             7.4
Most in 24 hours                 2.1 on the 28th

RECORDS SET:                     none

WINTER STATISTICS               WINTER 1996-7   NORMAL
Average Temperature               10.8           12.1
Total Melted Precip(in)           2.96           2.20
Snowfall (in)                     37.3           24.4
=============================================================================
Bob Weisman, Associate Professor	PHONE: (320) 255-3247 (work)
Earth Sciences Department		       (320) 253-8820 (home)
MS 48					FAX:   (320) 255-4262
Saint Cloud State University		EMAIL: scsweisman@tigger.stcloud.
720 4th Avenue South			       msus.edu
Saint Cloud, Minnesota 56301-4498
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