April 2022 Saint Cloud Weather Summary

April Showers on Steroids

Rain and Often Snow Dominates Monthly Weather

April 2022 continued the spring of frustration in Minnesota. However, April did live up to its reputation with plenty of April showers, or more accurately, cold rain. There were more than 5 inches of precipitation in a strip of eastern Minnesota from the Twin Cities to the North Shore (red areas on the NWS April Minnesota precipitation map) and from the Rainy River throughout much of northwestern Minnesota. Much of this northern Minnesota precipitation fell in the form of snow (19.2 inches in Duluth, 17.7 inches in International Falls, an April record 16.1 inches in Grand Forks). In St. Cloud, the precipitation wasn't quite as heavy (3.55 inches, 0.94 inch above average) and there were small, temporary snow accumulations. There were snow showers in the mix, producing a few morning or overnight accumulations, which totaled 1.9 inches, but each mainly melted by midday.

This included a series of snowstorms:

• April 5-7 slush with 6-12 inches in northeastern Minnesota (summary from Minnesota DNR)
• April 12-14 storm with severe weather (from MN DNR), but with major blizzard in Red River Valley (from NWS Bismarck)
• April 20 rain ending as light snow (MN DNR)

Snow Heaviest in Northern Minnesota, Producing Flooding

The snowfall hit most of northern Minnesota and the Red River Valley in particular with the heaviest snow. Then, a major rainstorm (from Minnesota DNR) over the weekend of April 23-24 produced over 2 inches of rain in northwestern Minnesota, which rapidly melted the snow pack, leading to major flooding over the entire valley and major to record flooding in the northern part of the Red River Valley (from Grand Forks northward). After another weekend at the end of the month, areas that saw descending river levels during the previous week spiked upward again (see River Stages from NWS Grand Forks and mouse over gauges in red or purple). See video shot by WDAY's Ryan Longnecker posted by the Grand Forks Herald. There has been some flooding in northeastern Minnesota, but a side effect is spectacular waterfalls from the hills along the North Shore to Lake Superior.

Pattern of Wretched Wednesdays...

As noted in the April 20 case, five of the storms, dating back to March 23, occurred on Wednesdays. On March 29, there was only 0.19 inch in St. Cloud, but 0.9 inches was still snow, making for another cold, windy, and miserable Wednesday.

But, Wednesdays weren't the only problem. 16 of the 30 days in April had measurable precipitation (at least 0.01 inch). That tied April 1947 and 1978 as the most April days with measurable precipitation in St. Cloud precipitation records, dating back to 1896. Meanwhile, the Wednesday streak did end with a sunny, 50-degree day on April 27.

Frequent Storms Put a Chill into St. Cloud (18 Straight Days Without Hitting 50 Degrees)

The series of unfortunate storms that kept Minnesota wet also kept Minnesota cool, windy, and moist for most of the month. As is consistent, Minnesota found itself mainly on the northern, colder side of the frequent storms. While St. Cloud didn't spend the entire affected by the cold side of each storm, the slow movement of these strong storms after they developed meant that most of Minnesota spent more days in the cool air on the northern or northwestern flank than it did on the warm side. The net effect on temperature was that, while the average temperature climbed through the 40's and 50's (bottom of pink area on the NWS April St. Cloud high-low temperature graph), the actual high temperatures (top of dark blue column) were consistently short of those averages. Only one day from April 12 on got close to or exceeded the daily average high and that was our 75-degree high on the 23rd (see NWS April St. Cloud high-low temperature table). That day ended more than a month with high temperatures below 60 (since March 20). 18 of those days had a high cooler than 50 degrees!

20th Coolest April on Record

Overall, St. Cloud only averaged 39.3 degrees in April, 4 full degrees below average. This was still far milder than April 2018, when St. Cloud picked up 14.8 inches of snow (4th most on record), and had continuous snow on the ground through April 20 (latest on record). Still, April 2022 ranked as the 20th coolest among the 142 Aprils on record.

Small Snow Accumulations Keep St. Cloud Seasonal Snowfall Just Above Average...But Frequency of Snow in Top 10

The 1.9 inches of snow in April brought the 2021-2022 St. Cloud seasonal snowfall to 49.5 inches, 1.6 inches above average. That slightly above average snowfall fell on a total of 47 days, which is tied with 4 other cold seasons, including 1964-1965, the snowiest season in St. Cloud records (87.9 inches). Over the past 10 winters, 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 also ranked in the top 10 among seasonal snowfall. Of the 14 seasons that account for the 10 highest number of snowfall days, only 1969-1970 (47 days with measurable snow, 47.6 inches for the season) along with this year were near average in seasonal snowfall.

April 2022 Statistics

 Last Updated: May 3, 2022