SUBJECT: Record Warm February Caps Extrordinarily Mild Winter
February 1998 and Winter 1997-98 St. Cloud Summary
Here's a winter to tell your grandchildren about the next time
it's -20 for a week or two. The meteorological winter (Dec. 1-Feb. 28) of
1997-1998 ended with the warmest February in 118 years of St. Cloud weather
records. The average February temperature was 29.6 degrees, beating February
1987, the previous warmest February, by 0.7 degrees and averaging more than
15 degrees above normal. The average high for February 1998 was 35.9 degrees,
11 degrees above normal, and the average low was 23.2 degrees, almost 20
degrees above normal.
The key to beating the old record was a mild spell during the second
half of the month. Temperatures rose above freezing on February 14 and
stayed no lower than freezing until the evening of February 28. Seven
record warm lows and two record highs were tied or broken during this
streak, including a new all-time record mild high for February on the
25th (40 degrees; see details of records below). The first 14 days of
the month "only" averaged 20.6 degrees (avg high: 28.6; avg low: 12.5),
about 6 degrees above normal, and included only one record-tying warm low.
But, the thaw of the last 14 days had an average temperature of 38.6 degrees
(avg high: 43.3; avg low: 33.9), more than 24 degrees above normal. During
this period, St. Cloud went from a normal amount of snow cover to bare ground.
There were also no days with a low of zero or below in February
1998, only the second time in St. Cloud history that this has occurred. The
previous time was in February 1987. This brings the winter total of
below zero days to 14 for 1997-1998 (4-Nov, 1-Dec, 9-Jan, 0-Feb), which
would be the lowest total in St. Cloud history if it holds up.
The mild conditions of February brought the average winter
temperature to 23.0 degrees, the second warmest of all time. The only
winter that was warmer was 1881-1882 with an average temperature of 23.2
degrees. There are two other El Nino years in the top 10 mildest
winters: 1986-1987 (4th) and 1982-1983 (7th). Of the 10 mildest Februaries,
4 are El Nino years: 1998 (1st), 1987 (2nd), 1992 (7th), and 1983 (9th).
The warm conditions were also dry until the last two days, and
they were also snowless. Only 0.6 inch fell in St. Cloud this February,
the 5th lowest total on record and the lowest in 34 years. However, heavy
rain on the 27th pushed the precipitation for the month above normal.
February's low snowfall allowed the winter 1997-1998 snowfall to drop
more than 4 inches below normal. However, thanks to heavy snowfall in November
and January, the seasonal snowfall for 1997-1998 is within an inch of normal.
The end of the winter marks also the end of the statistically
significant El Nino trends for St. Cloud, so what's left during this
cold season is anyone's guess (preferably not mine).
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FEBRUARY 1998 STATISTICS FEB 1998 NORMAL
TEMPERATURE
Average High 35.9 24.8
Average Low 23.2 3.8
Average Temp 29.6 14.3
Warmest high temperature 55 on the 24th
Coldest high temperature 17 on the 4th
Mildest low temperature 40 on the 26th (record for month; see below)
Coldest low temperature 2 on the 7th
Monthly record temperatures:
Record Warm Lows: 40 on the 25th (old record: 38 on 2/19/1899;
2/21/1930)
Daily record temperatures:
Record Warm Highs: 54 on the 23rd (tied record set in 1958)
55 on the 24th (old record: 51 in 1931)
Record Warm Lows: 25 on the 10th (tied record set in 1918)
35 on the 16th (old record: 34 in 1899)
35 on the 17th (old record: 34 in 1916)
34 on the 18th (old record: 33 in 1930)
34 on the 22nd (old record: 32 in 1981)
37 on the 23rd (old record: 33 in 1930)
40 on the 25th (old record: 34 in 1951)
38 on the 26th (old record: 35 in 1958)
MELTED PRECIP (in) 0.74 0.63
Most in 24 hours 0.55 on the 27th
SNOWFALL (in) 0.6 7.0
Most in 24 hours 0.5 on the 27th
Seasonal Snowfall (Oct-Feb) 32.7 33.3
WINTER STATISTICS WINTER 1997-8 NORMAL
Average Temperature 23.0 12.1
Total Melted Precip(in) 1.81 2.20
Snowfall (in) 21.4 26.0
ST. CLOUD TEMPS--FEBRUARY (118 YEARS; AVG = 13.8 F; SDEV = 6.0 F)
WARMEST COLDEST
29.6 F 1998 <--WARMEST EVER -4.4 F 1936
28.9 F 1987 3.7 F 1904
27.2 F 1954 4.3 F 1887
27.0 F 1931 4.3 F 1917
26.4 F 1882 4.6 F 1989
25.7 F 1984 4.9 F 1885
24.6 F 1992 5.1 F 1979
24.2 F 1915 5.4 F 1967
23.8 F 1983 5.6 F 1899
23.2 F 1930 5.6 F 1923
ST. CLOUD TEMPS--WINTER (117 YEARS; AVG = 12.9 F; SDEV = 4.2 F)
WARMEST COLDEST
23.2 F 1881-1882 1.4 F 1935-1936
23.0 F 1997-1998 <---2ND WARMEST 1.7 F 1886-1887
22.7 F 1930-1931 ON RECORD 3.9 F 1978-1979
22.2 F 1986-1987 4.2 F 1884-1885
21.5 F 1920-1921 5.5 F 1887-1888
20.0 F 1918-1919 6.2 F 1916-1917
19.9 F 1982-1983 7.7 F 1981-1982
19.3 F 1943-1944 7.8 F 1977-1978
19.3 F 1989-1990 7.9 F 1917-1918
19.3 F 1907-1908 7.9 F 1964-1965
ST. CLOUD TEMPS--FEWEST LOW TEMPERATURES OF 0 DEG OR LOWER
FEBRUARY COLD SEASON
0 1987 14 1997-1998 <--- FEWEST EVER
0 1998 <--2ND TIME EVER 17 1986-1987
2 1954 22 1918-1919
3 1926 22 1941-1942
3 1935 29 1908-1909
4 1930 29 1990-1991
4 1938 30 1931-1932
4 1984 30 1982-1983
4 1992 31 1937-1938
5 (5 YEARS) 31 1943-1944
31 1957-1958
ST. CLOUD SNOWFALL--FEBRUARY ( 99 YEARS; AVG = 7.1 IN; SDEV = 5.4 IN)
SNOWIEST DRIEST
21.6 IN 1970-1971 0.0 IN 1920-1921
21.5 IN 1908-1909 TRACE 1900-1901
20.6 IN 1921-1922 TRACE 1901-1902
20.0 IN 1961-1962 0.5 IN 1963-1964
19.9 IN 1918-1919 0.6 IN 1997-1998 <--5TH LOWEST ON
19.5 IN 1938-1939 1.0 IN 1911-1912 RECORD; LOWEST
18.8 IN 1936-1937 1.0 IN 1959-1960 IN 34 YEARS
16.5 IN 1952-1953 1.2 IN 1905-1906
15.9 IN 1990-1991 1.5 IN 1986-1987
15.6 IN 1950-1951 1.7 IN 1982-1983
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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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