April 2020 Saint Cloud Weather Summary

Still A Cool April, But Without the Snow of the Past Two Years

In case you have been waiting for an April to break up the string late season snowfall, April 2020 has come just in time. There was only 1.0 inch of snow at St. Cloud State University, compared to 8.3 inches last April and 14.8 inches in 2018 (see NWS St. Cloud April high-low-precipitation table). This means that the snow season, which accumulated 37.5 inches through the end of January, has produced only 9.9 inches since then. The 44.7 inches of snow so far this season is actually below the 46.1 inch St. Cloud annual average. This was helped by missing the southern Minnesota snowstorm of April 12.

This dry weather began in February, with only 0.16 inch of precipitation. March did produce 2.00 inches (a bit above average), but 1.71 inches of it fell on March 28-29. And, April was pretty dry until our rain storm on Tuesday. Still, there has only been 1.31 inch of rain, more than an inch below average.

We did need that break in the rain, since it allowed the snow pack to dwindle without producing devastating flooding, except in the Red River Valley. And, the water table is still high statewide thanks to last year's record wetness. The plants are now greening and budding as they have been able to tap that water supply. So, the dry weather has been a help.

The cool weather did dominate April with the average temperature of 41.8 degrees, 2.7 degrees colder than average. The coldest of the cold period happened during April 14 and 15. The high on April 14 was only 28 degrees, setting a new record cold high for the day. While the April 14 low dropped into the teens, the only record cold temperature was set the next morning with a low of 13 degrees.

The cold season of 2019-2020 continued to confound anyone looking for trends for recent winters. After two straight winters of above 60 inch snowfalls, including heavy snow at the end of the season, St. Cloud had a top-heavy winter with a snowy start and a dry finish. The temperature never dropped below -20 and only 2 highs of zero or colder were recorded. There were only 28 days with a low of zero or colder, slightly more than half the usual number. And, despite the cool start to spring, most of the "first warm spring" temperature thresholds were on time or early, except for the first 80 degree high. And, that was still much earlier than during the 2018-2019 season.

April 2020 Statistics