July 2018 Saint Cloud Weather Summary

Humid Summer Continues With Spotty Heavy Rain

July 2018 St. Cloud Weather Summary

While July's temperatures did not rise to the levels seen in May (5th warmest in St. Cloud records; longest May heat wave on record) or June (6th warmest May-June in St. Cloud records), the generally humid conditions continued with heavy rainfall nearby. The St. Cloud Airport picked up 4.84 inches of July rain, 1.53 inches above average. Thus, July has accounted for more than half of the St. Cloud rainfall since the beginning of May. Nearly half of the rain fell in the first three days with July 1's total of 1.37 inch breaking the daily record of 1.28 inch, set in 1962. However, the St. Cloud Airport, along with parts of northeastern Stearns County, much of Morrison County, and most of the St. Cloud to Twin Cities corridor were in the "drier hole" with 3-5 inches of July rain. Even so, SCSU ended up with over 6 inches of rain, thanks to a scattered thunderstorm on July 29 that produced 1.46 inches at St. Cloud State, but only a trace at the Airport. Meanwhile, an arc about 30 miles to the west of St. Cloud saw 5-8 inch rainfall totals and Mora to Pine City also picked up heavy rain, as much as 10 inches in some spots. July was by far the heaviest rainfall month of the past 3 in St. Cloud with 4.32 inches in May and June combined, leading to a total of 9.16 inches. Once again, the NWS 90-day precipitation map shows the relatively low rainfall (yellow spots) from St. Cloud into the Twin Cities. But, there was much heavier rain with more than 15 (brown) and even over 20 inches (red) from Glenwood, Willmar, and Olivia south and from Lake Mille Lacs and Brainerd-Baxter east and southeast into Mora and Pine City.

While St. Cloud saw over 0.9 inch of rain on July 3, a corridor of southwestern Minnesota from Marshall through Redwood Falls and Paynesville got much heavier rain (see July 3 Hwy 23 Corridor Heavy Rain from Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources). Some areas saw 8 inches of rain due to slow moving storms. Much of the area to our northeast picked up very heavy rainfall on July 12 and 13 (see July 12-13 East Central MN Heavy Rain from Minnesota DNR). The heavy rain continued across northern Wisconsin, producing several road washouts, including along Hwy. 23 just after the road was finally reopened after last year's washout.

While there was no thunderstorm-produced severe weather in St. Cloud during June, there was some straight-line wind damage in the wake of the July 3 thunderstorms. After those storms moved to our east, the wind accelerated to the southwest as air rushed into the back of the thunderstorm line. That period of high winds brought a 70 MPH Wind Gust on July 3 to the St. Cloud Airport between 9 and 10 AM. That was the highest wind gustproduced in St. Cloud since May 27, 2012, where there was a 74 MPH wind gust. During the next night, showers and thunderstorms caused by thunderstorms brought an area to the southwest of the Duluth Airport winds of 80-90 MPH, causing some home and tree damage (see Straight line wind damage in Hermantown (near Duluth) from NWS Duluth).

Heat remained a topic of frequent discussion across portions of the southern and western US. However, St. Cloud temperatures were closer to average than either of the previous two months. The average July St. Cloud average temperature was 70.8 degrees, within half a degree of average. There were two more highs of 90 degrees, on July 8 and 11, bringing the total for the year to 10 days, the most since 2013. Still, the June 29 high of 97 degrees remained the hottest high temperature of the season so far. On July 12, the low temperature remained at 70 degrees for the third time this summer. That's as many 70-degree lows as in the past three summers combined. The humidity did ease a bit as the final 8 days of July each had a low in the 50's.

The effect of all of the rain has only left a small portion of north central Minnesota, including the Red Lakes and Baudette, with recent dry periods, accoring to the US Drought Monitor. The July 29 Minnesota Crop Progress and Condition report from the US Department of Agriculture (see menu of all reports here) shows most crops are reported ahead of schedule, except where flooding has caused problems. In areas with sandy soil, some of the topsoil has been reported dry due to only spotty rainfall late in the month.

    July 2018 Statistics