SUBJECT: Yes, El Nino is here.....and it isn't all bad for Central Minnesota
December 1997 and 1997 annual St. Cloud weather summary
MILD AND DRY DECEMBER ENDS NORMAL, BUT WILD YEAR
El Nino has been in the news so much that SCSU students are beginning
to blame late term papers and class absences on El Nino. However, the real
El Nino winter trend showed up in force in Saint Cloud during the month of
December. The average temperature of 24.0 degrees was nearly 10 degrees above
normal. This is the 12th warmest December of the 117 Decembers in St. Cloud
recorded history and the mildest since 1965, when the average temperature was
24.1 degrees. In a normal December, Saint Cloud usually experiences 24.4 days
with a high of 32 degrees or less and 11.7 days with a low of zero or below.
In December 1997, there were 9 days with a high above the freezing point,
including 8 straight days during December 12-19. The only day with a below zero
low temperature was on December 31, the first below zero low temperature since
November 24 (there were 4 days with sub-zero lows in November).
There have been only 5 Decembers in the 102 years
of recorded history at St. Cloud without a below zero reading (1913,
1918, 1952, 1954, 1959). December 1997 is the first year with only one daily
low below zero.
The snowfall of 4.0 inches was also well below normal for the month
and the lowest total since December 1989. The 0.23 inches of melted
precipitation was the lowest December total since 1980. The dry conditions
can also be blamed on El Nino, since most storms moving through
the United States moved through the southern portion of the country. However,
there is no statistically significant trend on snowfall during the entire
winter in the Northern Plains in general. In fact, the low December total
merely put St. Cloud back near normal snowfall for the season. (Currently,
Tina Fischer, an SCSU senior meteorology major, is working on a project
comparing precipitation and snowfall during El Nino and non-El Nino years at 9
Northern Plains cities. Unfortunately, the work won't be done until February.)
(DETAILS OF DEC 1997 FOLLOW, THEN COMES A SUMMARY OF 1997)
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DECEMBER 1997 ST CLOUD STATISTICS
TEMPERATURE (F) DEC 1997 NORMAL
Average high 30.7 23.1
Average low 17.2 5.0
Monthly average 24.0 14.1
Warmest high 44 on the 16th
Coldest high 16 on the 31st
Mildest low 31 on the 1st,2nd
Coldest low -13 on the 31st
Daily records set: none
MELTED PRECIPITATION (in) DEC 1997 NORMAL
Total melted precip .23 .83
Most in 24 hours .13 on the 30th
SNOWFALL (in)
Total snowfall 4.0 8.9
Most in 24 hours 2.0 on the 30th
Seasonal (1997-1998) 15.3 16.2
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1997 in Saint Cloud was not far from normal in most statistical
senses, but three severe weather events, which affected Central Minnesota,
will not soon be forgotten. The rapid melting of the snowpack in April
caused severe flooding locally along the Sauk River and Little Rock Lake.
On July 1, a severe thunderstorm produced a straight line wind damage
event which caused an estimated $20 million in damage, most notably in
Monticello and Big Lake. And, on September 18, 6 tornadoes touched
down in Morrison and Mille Lacs counties, killing 1 person.
Temperatures in 1997 averaged almost right on normal. The precipitation
was almost 3 inches below normal and the calendar year snowfall was about
4 inches above normal.
Month-by-month highlights and statistics appear below:
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JANUARY - 19.3 inches - 8th snowiest January on record
1.71 inches of melted precipitation - 8th wettest on record
APRIL - record cold outbreak on 7-10
MAY - 10th coldest May on record (51.1 degrees)
MARCH-MAY - 8th driest spring on record (3.11 inches)
APRIL-JUNE - 4.57 inches of rain - 4th driest start of growing season on record
JULY - 6.89 inches of rain - 7th wettest July on record (3rd wettest month of
'90's)
SEPT - 5th warmest September since 1940
OCT-NOV - 10 consecutive days of zero sunshine (Oct. 27-Nov. 5) -
longest streak since the 15 days of fog in Dec 1991-Jan 1992
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1997 MONTHLY SUMMARY FOR ST. CLOUD
MONTH JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN
Avg High (F) 15.9 25.4 34.3 53.0 63.6 81.3
Normal High (F) 18.5 24.8 37.6 55.0 68.4 77.4
Avg Low (F) -2.8 6.5 15.8 29.3 38.6 54.8
Normal Low (F) -2.4 3.8 17.6 32.0 43.4 52.2
Avg Temp (F) 6.6 16.0 25.1 41.2 51.1 68.1
Normal Avg (F) 8.1 14.3 27.6 43.5 55.9 64.8
Precip (in) 1.71 .25 1.14 .69 1.28 2.59
Normal Pre (in) .74 .63 1.41 2.35 3.16 4.60
Snowfall (in) 19.3 2.9 11.9 0.2 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) 78.1 75.9 72.2 59.5 32.4 30.7 51.9
Normal High (F) 82.6 79.4 69.1 57.4 39.0 23.1 52.7
Avg Low (F) 59.3 54.6 48.5 35.6 18.7 17.2 31.3
Normal Low (F) 57.6 54.8 45.4 34.4 20.3 5.0 30.3
Avg Temp (F) 68.7 65.3 60.4 47.6 25.6 24.0 41.6
Normal Avg (F) 70.1 67.1 57.3 45.9 29.7 14.1 41.5
Precip (in) 6.89 5.80 1.70 1.30 .98 .23 24.56
Normal Pre (in) 3.11 3.96 3.16 2.21 1.27 .83 27.43
Snowfall (in) 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 11.0 4.0 49.6
Normal Snow (in) 0.0 0.0 T 0.5 6.8 8.9 45.5
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Bob Weisman, Professor/Meteorologist SUPERVISOR: Shirley (age 5)
Earth Sciences Department PHONE: (320) 255-3247
MS 48 FAX: (320) 255-4262
Saint Cloud State University EMAIL: scsweisman@stcloudstate.edu
720 4th Avenue South
Saint Cloud, Minnesota 56301-4498
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