December 2024 and Annual 2024 Saint Cloud (MN) Weather Summary

Foggy Warmth Propels 2024 to Warmest of 144 Years of St. Cloud Records

December 2024 and Annual 2024 St. Cloud Weather Summary

Temperature (Warmest Year on Record)

Globally, 2024 will be recorded as the warmest year since detailed temperature records began in the late 1800's. Many US cities shared in this warmth (see map from Washington Post). 4 cities in the Minnesota area were among those that hit their highest temperatures, including Duluth, Fargo, Minneapolis St. Paul, and St. Cloud.

The 2024 average temperature of 48.3 degrees (58.4 deg. high; 38.2 deg. low) at the St. Cloud Regional Airport was the hottest of the 144 years on record. It bested the previous high of 47.9 degrees, set in 1931. The warm periods included:

• Monthly Top 10s
  • February: warmest on record
    • Earliest 70-degree high on record
  • September: warmest on record
    • 2nd most Sept 80-degree days, no highs cooler than 70 (first time ever)
    • highest temperatures versus average of entire warm season
  • October: 9th warmest on record
• Seasonal Top 10s
  • Winter 2023-2024 warmest on record
  • Spring 2024 8th warmest
  • Autumn 2024 warmest on record

Note from the above that the one exception was the summer (June 1-August 31). The summer average temperature was 70.7 degrees, merely the 37th warmest summer in St. Cloud records. This is because the intense heat that produced so many triple-digit temperatures from Texas to the Southwest and California rarely nosed past southern Minnesota. St. Cloud had only 6 days with a high of at least 90 degrees, more than 5 days below average. The warmest high was merely 94 degrees, set on August 26. Instead, the record year was primarily produced by the off-season warmth, beginning with the warmest winter (2023-2024) on record, the 8th warmest spring, and the warmest autumn on record. Note that the months most above average were January, February (warmest on record) and September (also 9th warmest on record). This produced a wealth of daily record temperatures, including 10 record warm highs tied or broken, 10 record warm lows broken, and 10 record warm averages tied or broken. The earliest record was set on January 29 and the latest was set on December 28. No records were set during the summer months.

While the 90-degree days were well below average, St. Cloud had a Top 10 finish for most 80+ degree highs (8th with 84) And, the 158 70-degree highs were the second most on record and far above the average of 124 days. Also, the winter of 2023-2024 set records for the most winter (Dec-Feb) highs of at least 40 degrees (38 days) and the second highest number of winter (Dec-Feb) highs of at least 50 degrees (8 days, 1 short of the 1939-1940 record).

The warm spell began after the last 2022-2023 cold season snow melted in April of 2023. Since then, St. Cloud has had 20 straight month of above average temperatures (see table below). The only near average months were July 2023 (0.1 degree above average) and June 2024 (1.3 degrees above average). Every non-winter month since April 2023 has been at least 3.7 degrees milder than average.

Over the entire warm period shown above, the 20-month average temperature has been 51.8 degrees, 5.6 degrees above average. That is the warmest 20-month period in St. Cloud records, 1.8 degrees warmer than either 1930-1931 or 2011-2012, which are tied for second.

The warmth wasn't that surprising considering the winter of 2023-2024 had a warm El Nino event, a fairly reliable signal for a milder than average winter. However, global sea surface temperatures continued to be well above average through the summer, even as the El Nino event came to an end. A weak La Nina regime began at the end of this year, but oceans take a long time to cool off, so water temperatures remained above average for much of the world.

Warmth Characteristic of Globally Warmed Off-Season Heat

The entire year is consistent with the global warming trend, which has produced the highest temperatures seen since the beginning of the Industrial Age in the past 10 years. While climate changes can only be positively identified over at least a 30 year span, the trend, including that in Minnesota, is consistent with the predictions of global warming. That includes that some of the largest warming will be seen in the northern interior of continents where persistent snow cover could be replaced by longer periods of bare ground (St. Cloud had only 46 days with an inch of snow cover in 2023-2024, the 6th fewest days since reliable snow records began in 1905-1906). And, the predictions show that the greatest warming effect would be for cold season temperatures, consistent with the top 10 finishes of last winter, last spring, and this autumn.

The December average St. Cloud temperature was 22.2 degrees (29.1 deg. avg. high, 15.2 deg. avg. low), 4.4 degrees above average. The month began with some significant cold with January-like temperatures on the 1st and 2nd and a couple of periods of true winter cold (sub-zero lows December 11-13 and December 20-21; single digit high on December 13). This was the coldest period since our 9 days of true winter cold last January. At mid-month, December was running more than 3 degrees colder than average, threatening to break the 19-month above average streak. Then, the warm-up began. High temperatures climbed to 31 degrees on the 22nd and were never colder than 30 the rest of the month. More importantly, the mild air produced a lot of dampness, including 6 straight sunless days dominated by fog between December 21 and 27. (The fog bank eventually covered areas from the Dakotas to Wisconsin and southward to Oklahoma, but wasn't quite as persistent as the 15 straight sunless days in late December, 1991,. and early January, 1992). The mild lows were typically warmer than the average high temperature, pushing December 2024 well above average. The coldest low of -14 set on December 21, was the coldest temperature in 2 years.

Precipitation: 9 Soggy Months, 4 Dry Ones

The other aspect that dominated 2024 weather was the wild swing between wet and dry. The period from January 2024 through August 2024 was extremely wet. The 29.11 inch total for those 8 months were 8.49 inches above average and the 5th highest Jan-Aug rainfall. If you extend that time period back to December 2023, the wettest December in St. Cloud records and the wettest December statewide, the total of 32.46 inches in St. Cloud was 10.96 inches above average, and the 2nd highest December through August rainfall. However, the pattern changed drastically as the high humidity to the south of Minnesota stopped moving in and we had more northwest-to-southeast flow, bringing in drier air from the north. This dominated all but a few days in the last 4 months of the year. St. Cloud's September through December precipitation was only 4.08 inches, 3.79 inches below average. That was St. Cloud's 19th lowest total for the last 4 months. The lowest last 4 months of the year was 0.74 inch in 1952. More recently, September through December of 2011 had only 2.79 inches, the 5th lowest total.

December's contribution to the dryness was merely a 0.47 inch precipitation total, 0.41 inch below average. Most of that was tied up in the December 19 "typical winter storm," which produced Minnesota's first widespread snowfall of the 2024-2025 season and 4.4 inches in St. Cloud.

Overall, 2024 dumped 33.19 inches of precipitation on St. Cloud. That was 4.70 inches above average and the 22nd wettest.

Among the wet milestones of 2024 were:

• 5th wettest winter Dec 2023-Feb 2024 4.54 inches
• 10th wettest summer (June-Aug) 16.52 inches
• 6th wettest April: 5.51 inches
• June was the 4th wettest June and the 5th wettest month in Minnesota history, but St. Cloud missed some of the largest rainfall totals that month (6.20 inches, merely the 22nd wettest June)

The dry milestones included St. Cloud's 3rd driest September on record with 0.35 inch.

All of that rain eased the potential for a large amount of wildfire smoke visiting Minnesota. The Canadian Rockies had a very late (little snow until February) and light snowfall year, beginning a bad wildfire season in the Canadian Prairies. Minnesota had a mid-May outbreak of poor air quality due to the smoke. However, the persistent rains from mid-May into June also fell over the southern and central Canadian Prairie Provinces, temporarily washing the smoke out from further north. The wildfire season got really bad in Canada, including the eevacuation of Fort Nelson, BC, Fort McMurray, AB, and Jasper, BC. However, Minnesota was spared from a number of wildfire smoke events.

Snowfall: Not as Low as You May Think

Snowfall was few and far between in 2024, but perhaps not as missing as you might think. The calendar year total snowfall was 36.5 inches, only 11.4 inches below the 47.9 inch average. That only ranks as the 44th lowest snowfall total in 119 years of St. Cloud records. Part of this is because the "lost winter of 2023-2024" produced

• 9 days of near- and sub-zero cold in January
• a week of heavy March snowfall
  • March 21-22 and March 23-27 produced 13.6 inches of snow in St. Cloud
  • March was the 8th snowiest March in St. Cloud records (18.6 inches total, more than half of the annual total)

During this snow season, St. Cloud had

• 2.5 inches on Halloween (and a daily record precipitation total)
• 4.4 inches on December 19

The December snowfall total was 5.6 inches, 3.7 inches below average. So far during this cold season, the snowfall total is 10.3 inches, 9.8 inches below average. So far, the 2024-2025 snow season ranks as the 47th brownest on record.

Besides the snow at times and the brief cold interludes, a storm produced light precipitation, but some of it was freezing rain on December 14.

Severe Weather, Including Melrose Tornado, State Fair Wind Damage

The Minnesota severe weather season was mainly dominated by heavy rain issues, causing flooding problems especially during June. Notable was the northeastern Minnesota flooding that persisted well into July. The heaviest rain period in June also produced huge flooding from eastern South Dakota to southwestern Minnesota and much of Iowa. However, large hail was produced in several thunderstorms. Huge hail was measured on July 31 in Chokio (6 inches in diameter). The tornado season included a tornado in Melrose on August 3. The largest tornado outbreak occurred on August 5 with tornadoes in southern and southeastern Minnesota. The State Fair was hit by a straight-line damaging wind event that extended well into Wisconsin on August 26 and 27.

Nationally, the year was marked by the severe heat during the summer, a higher than average amount of severe weather (set to annual and 2024), and the catastrophic landfalls of Hurricane Helene (from Florida into Tennessee and the Carolinas) and Hurricane Milton, mostly notably the tornado outbreak.

Last Updated: January 3, 2025