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)
==============================================================================
		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

=============================================================================
	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:
========================================================================
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
===============================================================================
                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

=============================================================================
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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Last modified: January 2, 1998