January 2006 Saint Cloud Weather Summary

January 2006 is Warmest January in Saint Cloud History by Far!

Saint Cloud just finished the warmest January since temperature records began in 1881. The average temperature of 25.5°F was 16.7°F above normal and beat the previous warmest January (1944) by 2.7°F. This past month was considerably warmer than recent warm Januaries such as 1990 (22.0°F;3rd warmest) and 2002 (21.2°F; tied for 5th warmest). The 16.7°F above normal makes January 2006 as the month that had the largest departure from normal on the warm side in Saint Cloud records.

While January 2006 basked in some very warm high temperatures, a large reason for the record warm January was the very warm low temperatures. The January average high of 32.7°F was 14.1°F above normal and ranked as the second warmest average January high temperature, only ranking behind the January 1990 average high of 33.1°F. However, the persistent low clouds and moisture, especially during the first half of January, ended up being the most abnormal temperature statistic for January. The overall January average low was 18.2°F; an incredible 19.4°F above normal. The January 2006 average low temperature was 5°F warmer than the previous warm January low of 13.2°F, set in 1944.

The ultimate irony is that many of the temperature statistics cooled a bit during the second half of the month. Those persistent clouds and fog during the first half of the month produced an average low temperature of 21.2°F. More frequent dry, if not cold, air masses produced some clear, cool nights during the second half of the month during which the only three low temperatures in the single digits occurred. While much of Minnesota to our south went through a rare January with no low temperature of 0°F or colder, the mercury did drop to -2°F on January 23. Still, this ranks as the first January in 98 years with so few low temperatures of 0°F or colder. The only Januaries that never brushed the zero-degree mark in Saint Cloud were 1904 and 1908. In a normal January, there are 16 days with a low of 0°F or colder.

The high temperatures were fairly consistent throughout the month, with the "cool period" of January 17-22 when the high temperature didn't break 30. The closest high temperature to normal was on January 17th when the high temperature was 20 degrees. Other than this period, 23 of the 25 January highs were at least 30 degrees or higher. Still, the January average temperature never was lower than 1.8°F warmer than any other January in Saint Cloud history.

For the record, the normal average January temperatures are a high of 18.6°F and a low of -1.2°F. Instead, the January 2006 average temperatures (32.7°F high, 18.2°F low) would have been normal for the second week of March or the last 10 days of November. So, we basically had either Thanksgiving or Saint Patrick's Day weather for most of January.

Every day of January had an above normal average temperature. In fact, Saint Cloud is now on a streak of 41 consecutive days with above normal temperatures. The last below normal day was December 21. This is the fifth longest streak of consecutive above normal days in Saint Cloud records. The longest streak was 53 days, set in July through September of 1900. I don't if we will get to the record, but there are definitely more warmer than normal days coming this week.

A major contributor to our warm conditions was our sunless streak of late December into the first week of January. During the period of December 24 through January 3, Saint Cloud had 11 consecutive days without sunshine. The streak was ended between 12:55 and 1:00 PM on January 4 when the sun briefly broke out after a snow shower. The low clouds didn't break for good until the afternoon of January 6. The longest sunless streak in Saint Cloud history was 15 days in late December and early January of 1991-1992. The sunless streak really helped the mild temperatures since temperatures did not fall below 28 degrees during this streak, pushing average temperatures to nearly 30 degrees above normal during the sunless period.

On the non-temperature front, January 2006 was an extremely dry and snowless month...until last night. Through the first 30 days of the month, Saint Cloud Airport was on pace to be the 11th driest and have the 12th lowest snowfall total. However, the snow that fell before midnight last night, nearly doubled both the liquid precipitation and snowfall for January. Saint Cloud still ended up with only 0.34 inch of liquid precipitation, less than half of the normal amount, and 3.8 inches of snow, about one-third of the normal total.