April 2019 Saint Cloud Weather Summary

It Was the Worst Ever Winter.....Since Last Winter

The complaints ran rampant as the snow kept falling for the first half of April. There were 8.6 inches of snow in the first two weeks of the month, most of which fell during April 10-12. High temperatures only made it above 60 degrees 3 days of the first 15 days of the month. In the storm and its aftermath, the high temperature didn't even make it to 35 degrees during April 10-12 and lows remained below 30 degrees for 7 straight days. However, the rest of the month didn't manage to stay that cold after the snow finally melted for good.

Temperatures broke 60 degrees again on April 16 and climbed above 60 again 7 of the following 10 days. Still, the month ended with a cold rain, persistent clouds, and a biting wind.

The overall effect was an April that was 2.1 degrees colder than average at 42.4 degrees. This wasn't extremely cold and was more than 8 degrees warmer than April 2018, which tied April 1950 for the coldest April in St. Cloud records. April 2019 set no new record cold temperatures, unlike the 12 different temperature records set in April 2018, including the latest zero reading on record.

The 8.3 inches that fell during April 10-12 only ranks as the 12th snowiest April on record, failing to be the 5th April in the 2000s to reach the 10 snowiest.

In 2018-2019, the real winter weather has mainly been confined to the period between mid-January and the end of April. The February through April snowfall has totaled 47.3 inches, the 3rd snowiest February through April on record. 4 of the 6 snowiest end of the winters have taken place in the 2000s with 2008 ranked 9th. This heavy snowfall did finally push the entire snow season of 2018-2019 to 68.5 inches through the end of April, the 8th snowiest winter on record in St. Cloud.

If you wish to use an "analogue" forecast to figure out what the winter of 2019-2020 will be like, good luck. Not only have we had a variety of conditions, but we have had both extremely mild and snowless winters and cold and snowy winters. The past 7 cold seasons (defined as our possible snow months, October through April) have features the three warmest cold seasons on record (2011-2012, 2015-2016, 2016-2017), the 5th coldest (2013-2014) and 2 other years definitely on the cold side. Then, there was the half-and-half cold season this winter. Three of those colder than average seasons have been among the 10 snowiest cold seasons. There have been nearly no "average cold seasons" in this period.

The combined effect of the snowfall and heavy rainfall (total of 3.29 inches) produced significant flooding on the Red and Minnesota Rivers.

April 2019 Statistics