December 1999 Saint Cloud Weather Summary
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This Month's Daily Statistics
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December 1999 and 1999 annual St. Cloud weather summary
The mild and dry conditions from November continued into December at the St. Cloud Municipal Airport; however, December was not quite as warm or as dry. Still, the average December temperature of 22.2 degrees was more than 8 degrees above normal. This marks the 3rd consecutive December with well above normal temperatures. In fact, since 1986, only 2 of the 14 Decembers have had below normal temperatures. While 40-degree highs were very common during the first half of the month, the temperature broke 40 three times during the last 6 days and broke record highs on the 28th and 29th.
The warmth elevated the 1999 average temperature to 44.8 degrees, tying 1913 for the 8th warmest year of the 119 years on record. This 1999 reading is more than 3 degrees above the annual normal and follows the 3rd warmest year on record in 1998. The only other consecutive years in the top 10 warmest are 1938 and 1939. As was the case in 1998, the warm reading was mainly the product of a mild spring and late fall, rather than an extraordinarily hot summer.
The December warmth came despite a colder flow from central Canada. However, except for the period of December 20-24, the main surge of arctic air has primarily moved over eastern Canada and the Northeast U.S. Even when we have been "sideswiped" by the colder air, the lack of snow cover has allowed the air to warm up rather quickly.
The predominant northwest flow has continued the very dry conditions. Only 4.5 inches of snow accumulated at the St. Cloud Airport in December, which is about half of the normal amount. This snowfall occurred in three storms during the second half of the month. Each snow event was followed within a day or two by a thaw, giving St. Cloud only 5 mornings with a measurable snow cover so far this season.
The low snowfall and low melted precipitation total again contributed to a 1999 precipitation total which was more than an inch and half below normal. This also continues a recent trend. There has been below normal precipitation in each of the past 6 years; in fact, the total for 1999 is actually the highest of the past four years. On the other hand, we have seen streaks like this in the other direction. As recently as 1982-1986, there were five consecutive years with 30-35 inches of precipitation. Still, the relatively dry conditions have put stress on local agriculture during the past few growing seasons.
As of Jan. 1, the seasonal snowfall is less than 6 inches, so again I have checked the records to find similar winter with similar low snowfall totals. There have been 17 previous winters (of the 100 years on record) which have had 6 inches or less of snowfall through Dec. 31. The average seasonal snowfall of those 17 winters is 28.4 inches, well below the normal total of 45.5 inches. Fourteen of the 17 winters had snowfalls below 35 inches, so the statistics again strongly favor a low snowfall winter.
(DETAILS OF DEC 1999 FOLLOW, THEN COMES A SUMMARY OF 1999)==============================================================================
DECEMBER 1999 ST CLOUD STATISTICS
TEMPERATURE (F) DEC 1999 NORMAL
Average high 31.9 23.1
Average low 12.5 5.0
Monthly average 22.2 14.1
Warmest high 52 on the 29th (broke daily records; see below)
Coldest high 5 on the 21st
Mildest low 32 on the 1st, 29th
Coldest low -15 on the 21st, 22nd
Daily records set:
Record warm highs: 41 on the 28th (old record: 37 in 1908, 1958, and 1984)
52 on the 29th (old record: 42 in 1929)
Record warm lows: 32 (tie) on the 29th (tied record set in 1965)
MELTED PRECIPITATION (in) DEC 1999 NORMAL
Total melted precip .22 .83
Most in 24 hours .12 on the 26th
SNOWFALL (in)
Total snowfall 4.5 8.9
Most in 24 hours 2.3 on the 26th
Seasonal (1999-2000) 5.6 16.2
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1999 MONTHLY STATISTICS FOR ST. CLOUD
MONTH
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN
Avg High (F)
17.8 33.2 42.1 56.6 69.4 76.3
Normal High (F)
18.5 24.8 37.6 55.0 68.4 77.4
Avg Low (F)
-0.9 16.8 21.2 34.4 47.3 55.2
Normal Low (F)
-2.4 3.8 17.6 32.0 43.4 52.2
Avg Temp (F)
8.5 25.0 31.7 45.5 58.4 65.7
Normal Avg (F)
8.1 14.3 27.6 43.5 55.9 64.8
Precip (in)
.61 .07 0.85 2.29 4.72 3.99
Normal Pre (in)
.74 .63 1.41 2.35 3.16 4.60
Snowfall (in)
18.4 0.5 10.5 0.8 0.0 0.0
Normal Snow (in)
10.1 7.0 9.8 2.3 0.1 0.0
MONTH
JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC YEAR
Avg High (F)
85.2 78.2 69.1 58.9 49.2 31.9 55.7
Normal High (F)
82.6 79.4 69.1 57.4 39.0 23.1 52.7
Avg Low (F)
59.9 56.3 45.0 32.4 25.6 12.5 33.8
Normal Low (F)
57.6 54.8 45.4 34.4 20.3 5.0 30.3
Avg Temp (F)
72.6 67.3 57.1 45.7 37.4 22.2 44.8
Normal Avg (F)
70.1 67.1 57.3 45.9 29.7 14.1 41.5
Precip (in)
3.84 4.95 2.61 1.35 0.20 .22 25.70
Normal Pre (in)
3.38 3.96 3.16 2.21 1.27 .83 27.43
Snowfall (in)
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.1 4.5 35.8
Normal Snow (in)
0.0 0.0 T 0.5 6.8 8.9 45.5
ANNUAL ST. CLOUD TEMPS (119 YEARS; AVG = 42.2 F; SDEV = 1.8 F)
WARMEST COLDEST
47.9 F 1931 38.3 F 1950
46.4 F 1987 38.5 F 1884
46.3 F 1998 38.7 F 1951
46.0 F 1921 38.8 F 1888
45.9 F 1900 38.8 F 1972
45.0 F 1938 38.8 F 1996
44.9 F 1939 39.1 F 1979
44.8 F 1913 39.2 F 1886
44.8 F 1999 <--8TH WARMEST 39.5 F 1917
44.7 F 1908 YEAR ON RECORD 39.5 F 1887
(tied with 1913)
ST. CLOUD TEMPS--FEBRUARY (119 YEARS; AVG = 13.9 F; SDEV = 6.1 F)
WARMEST COLDEST
29.6 F 1998 -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
25.0 F 1999 <--7TH WARMEST 5.1 F 1979
24.6 F 1992 FEBRUARY 5.4 F 1967
24.2 F 1915 5.6 F 1899
23.8 F 1983 5.6 F 1923
ST. CLOUD TEMPS--NOVEMBER (119 YEARS; AVG = 29.9 F; SDEV = 4.5 F)
WARMEST COLDEST
39.5 F 1899 18.7 F 1896
39.0 F 1904 20.9 F 1911
38.6 F 1913 21.1 F 1985
37.4 F 1999 22.0 F 1955
36.6 F 1939 22.2 F 1991
36.5 F 1908 22.3 F 1959
36.3 F 1963 22.5 F 1951
36.2 F 1934 22.5 F 1996
36.1 F 1917 23.2 F 1976
36.1 F 1923 23.8 F 1926
Send comments to: raweisman@stcloudstate.edu