June 1999 Saint Cloud Weather Summary

An extremely schizophrenic June hit St. Cloud in the past month.
There were periods of extremely hot and humid conditions and periods of
incredibly cool weather. There were two major streaks of hot and sticky
weather: during June 4-9 and June 21-26. During these 12 days, the
average temperature was 74.8 degrees (avg high 86.3, avg low 63.3) with
no high temperature cooler than 81 degrees. This period also included the
first two 90-degree highs of the year (25th and 26th), which were the
highest June temperatures recorded since 1997.

Then, there were the cold periods. During June 13-20 and June
27-30, the average temperature was 59.4 degrees (avg high 69.4, avg low 49.5),
which is typical of mid-May or mid-September. June had 8 days with a low
temperature in either the 40's or 30's, the most since the chilly June of 1992.
Finally, there was the arctic tundra of June 1 which had a high of only 47
degrees, tying the coldest ever high for the day with June 1, 1945 and tying
the second coldest high in June history. The coldest high ever recorded in
June was 45 degrees on June 4, 1935.

Of course, the warm extremes and the cold extremes cancelled each
other out, leaving the average temperature about a degree warmer than
normal.

What was the cause of the extremes? During the warmer periods, the jet
stream was blowing from the central or southern Rockies right over or just
to the north of Minnesota. This has put St. Cloud near the boundary between
cooler air to the north and hot, sticky air to the south. The showers
and thunderstorms which rumbled along this boundary kept the humidity, and
therefore, the overnight temperatures, high. These thunderstorms also
accounted for the 4.00 inches of rainfall during the month. Still, this
was 0.6 inches below normal. Because the rain was produced by thunderstorms,
rainfall did vary. The St. Cloud State University rain gauge received 5.08
inches of rain this month, which would have been above normal.

During the cooler periods, we had an abrupt reversal of the jet stream,
turning to blow out from Canada into the Southeastern U.S., allowing cooler
drier air to move over us.

The start of July has marked a return to the warm, sticky pattern. We'll
see how long it lasts.

JUNE STATISTICS                   JUNE 1999              NORMAL
TEMPERATURE ( F)
Average high temp                 76.3                   77.4
Average low temp                  55.2                   52.2
Average temp                      65.7                   64.8
Hottest high temp for the month   91 on the 25th
Coolest high temp for the month   47 on the 1st (tied record; see below)
Warmest low temp for the month    69 on the 22nd
Coolest low temp for the month    39 on the 17th 

Records:                          
Daily cold high:                  47 on the 1st (tied record set in 1945)

PRECIPITATION (IN)                 JUNE 1999              NORMAL
Total for month                    4.00                   4.60
Maximum daily amount               .91 on the 5th