Heavy Rains from Saint Cloud South and East 12-13 September 2005
Heavy Rains from Saint Cloud South and East 12-13 September 2005
The heavy rainfall was most intense from the western Minnesota River Valley to the northern and western Twin Cities suburbs. The heaviest reports came from Zimmerman with 6.20 inches. However, Elk River had 4.9 inches of rain in 90 minutes. The single hour rainfall rates from the Cambridge and Rush City airports both exceeded 2 inches. Large hail and wind damage were reported from Granite Falls, Litchfield, and Raymond to the northern and western Twin Cities suburbs to Cambridge. The worst problems happened in Greenfield in western Hennepin County where 10 homes were damaged and there was one injury. Hail sizes ranged from pea-sized to quarter-sized.
Much of this area also received heavy rainfall on September 3-4. Precipitation over this area had been running 10-20% below normal during much of the growing season, but has well exceeded the normal precipitation.
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Rainfall Totals from 12-13 September
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| Reporting Station | 24-hr rainfall | Rainfall after 6 PM | Highest 1-hour rainfall |
| Zimmerman | 6.20 inches | ||
| Cambridge Airport | 5.33 inches | 4.49 inches | 2.54 inches |
| Rush City Airport | 4.72 inches | 4.27 inches | 2.24 inches |
| Willmar/Rice Airport | 4.35 inches | 2.57 inches | |
| Brownton | 4.10 inches | ||
| Redwood Falls Airport | 3.77 inches | ||
| Granite Falls | 3.75 inches | ||
| Morgan | 3.62 inches | ||
| Maple Lake Airport | 3.46 inches | 3.03 inches | |
| Dassel | 3.33 inches | ||
| Normal Saint Cloud September Rainfall | 2.93 inches | ||
| Little Rock Lake | 2.61 inches | ||
| Saint Cloud Regional Airport | 2.60 inches | 1.50 inches | |
| Saint Cloud State University | 2.46 inches | 1.23 inches | |
| Litchfield | 2.29 inches | 1.80 inches | |
| Paynesville Airport | 2.29 inches | ||
| Wild River State Park | 2.00 inches | ||
| New London | 1.68 inches | ||
| Buffalo Airport | 1.47 inches | ||
| Little Falls | 1.35 inches | ||
| Glenwood | 0.85 inch | ||
When was the last recent rainfall of this size in Saint Cloud? How about three weeks ago? The rainstorm of August 25-26 dumped 2.26 inches on the Saint Cloud Airport, 2.84 inches at SCSU. On the list of heaviest rainfalls in Saint Cloud history, last night's rainfall doesn't rank very high on the list. However, the 2.46 inches reported at Saint Cloud State University ranks as the 9th heaviest 24-hour rainfall recorded at the University. Other local reports included 2.61 inches at Little Rock Lake.
While Saint Cloud has not had the brunt of the three recent heavy rainfalls, the total September rainfall at the Saint Cloud Airport is now 3.65 inches, 2.34 inches above normal. The normal amount of rainfall for the entire month of September is 2.93 inches, so we are now guaranteed to have above normal rainfall. In fact, during the period of August 26th through September 12th, Saint Cloud Airport has had 5.83 inches of rain, 3.77 inches above normal. This is more rain than what fell between mid-July and late August (4.90 inches). The total Saint Cloud precipitation for the year through September 13th is now 22.75 inches, so the rain during this three-week period has accounted for about one-quarter of the rain during the entire year so far.
