January 2021 St. Cloud Weather Summary

The movie, Groundhog Day, is based on the same day happening over and over again. During this cold season in Minnesota, the same relatively mild and cloudy weather has been recurring quite often. This was especially true during the first 18 days of January, when high temperatures were in the 20's and 30's and low temperatures mostly remained above 10 degrees. These are the average conditions for the last week in November or the first week in December, not what is expected in January.

January Ties for 9th Mildest

For the entire month, the average temperature at the St. Cloud Regional Airport was 19.6 degrees in January, 8.0 degrees warmer than average. This January tied January 1906 for the 9th mildest January in St. Cloud records. It was also within two degrees of December 2020, which was 6.0 degrees above average. This makes three straight months with a temperature at least 5 degrees above average. If February merely has an average temperature, the meteorological winter (December 1- February 28) would tie for St. Cloud's 12th mildest on record.

26 of the 31 January days were milder than average with only 3 colder than average days. However, the low temperatures (12.8 degrees, 11.0 degrees above average) were even milder than the high temperatures (26.4 degrees, 5.0 degrees above average). The warmest reading never topped 40 degrees. That was because of the frequency of low clouds, which kept clear nights to a minimum. It also led to several late nights and early morning with rime on trees and branches.

Missing Most Typical Arctic Outbreak Milestones So Far

There were only 3 January days with a low of zero or colder, the fewest since 2006. For the cold season, there have only been 9 days with a low of zero or colder, only the 4th cold season of the past 20 season with so few cold nights through January. The average number of sub-zero lows through January is 26 days. The coldest low so far this season was -9 on December 25 and 29. A typical arctic outbreak in central Minnesota usually produces a low of -20.

There have also been no high temperature of zero or colder so far this cold season. The coldest high so far this season has been +4 on December 24.

The reason for the relatively mild weather continued to be the split branches of the steering winds in North American. For most of the month, the northern branch stayed in southern or central Canada, keeping the polar air that was in northwestern Canada from coming into Minnesota very often.When it did, that cold air wasn't really all cold since the coldest air in the Northern Hemisphere stayed on the Eurasian side of the North Pole. And, the southern branch of the steering winds ran from the southern Rockies to the Mid-Atlantiic states, so major storms were mainly shunted to our south. The closest approach was the slush storm of January 14-15. This system did produce 6-8 inches in southeastern Minnesota, but near or above freezing temperatures kept the snow accumulation down. Other parts of Minnesota had only minor impact.

Near Average Precipitation, Below Average Snowfall (But Season Total Near Average)

The January precipitation was about average. A total of 0.68 inch fell at the St. Cloud Regional Airport, 0.03 inch above average. 0.45 inch fell during January 14-15, but much of it fell as rain. Only 1.5 inches of snow fell on that day with a total of 5.4 inches during January. That total is 3.2 inches below the January average. However, thanks to the major October and November snowstorms, the cold season of 2020-2021 has produced 28.7 inches, 1.3 inches above average.

Colder air finally made it to northern Alaska and northwestern Canada by the last few days of January, so there is the potential for arctic cold at least at times in February.