June 2001 Saint Cloud Weather Summary

DATE: 3 July 2001

SUBJECT: No, that's not a misprint-it was warmer and drier than normal
June 2001 St. Cloud weather summary

Despite a perception that the summer is off to a cool and wet start, June 2001 in Saint Cloud ended up being both warmer and drier than normal. According to the official readings at the Saint Cloud Municipal Airport, June finished more than a degree and a half above normal and contained three highs of 90 or better, which was also slightly above average. However, we did have 15 days with below normal high temperatures, including the first 7 days of the month. This accounted for the average high temperature being only about normal. The average low temperature was more than two degrees above normal, due to the early month rains and the late month humidity. St. Cloud also had its hottest June 25th on record as both the daily mean temperature and the low temperature broke records on the warm side.

The perception of a rainy month was also dashed as the Saint Cloud Airport received 3.01 inches of rain, more than an inch and a half below normal. Part of the reason for below normal rainfall was the drying trend during last 10 days (measurable rainfall was recorded for 15 of the first 21 days of June, but only 2 days of the last 9 days). Part of the reason was also the tendency for thunderstorms to hit the Saint Cloud Airport with only a glancing blow. While the airport only picked up 3.01 inches of rain, the rain gauge at Saint Cloud State University recorded 4.05 inches. Thunderstorms also showed a tendency to miss St. Cloud entirely, most notably during the week of June 12-18, when between 3 and 6 inches fell just to our north from Fergus Falls across Todd and Morrison Counties to Sandstone and Moose Lake. This period also included the tornadoes which hit Benson and Brainerd, and major straight line wind damage and hail as close to us as Foley, Little Falls, and Ogilvie. Meanwhile, Saint Cloud did get rain on 6 of the 7 days that week, but only picked up .50 inch of rain as the brunt of the storms missed the airport.

Actually, there was a month of cool and wet weather in Saint Cloud; it just didn't work out on the calendar. From May 16 through June 15, the average temperature was only 57.7 degrees, nearly three degrees below normal. During this "month," rain was recorded on 21 of the 31 days, including two streaks of 8 consecutive days with rain (May 19-26 and June 8-15). The rainfall totaled 5.39 inches, more than an inch and a half above normal for the period.

Despite the below normal rainfall total for the month, the growing season rainfall (1 April-30 June) now totals more than fifteen and a half inches, nearly 5.5 inches above normal.

JUNE STATISTICS                 JUNE 2001 NORMAL 
TEMPERATURE (F) 
Average high temp                    77.0   77.1 
Average low temp                     55.5   53.2 
Average temp                         66.3   65.2        
Number of days with 90+ high            3    2.2 
Hottest high temp for the month        96 on the 25th 
Coolest high temp for the month        56 on the 5th        
Warmest low temp for the month         72 on the 25th (broke record; see below) 
Coolest low temp for the month         43 on the 6th 
Records set:        
Daily warm low: 72 on the 25th (old record: 68 in 1943) 
Daily high average temperature: 84 on the 25th (old record: 80 in 1900)              

PRECIPITATION (IN)             JUNE 2001 NORMAL 
Total for month                   3.01   4.60 
Maximum daily amount               1.58 on the 10th 
Growing season total(1 Apr-30 Jun)15.56 10.11