June 2009 Saint Cloud Weather Summary

Important Rainfall in Mid-June, But Central Minnesota Still Loses Ground on Moisture

On-Again Off-Again Summer Temperatures Continue in June

Saint Cloud Weather Summary for June 2009

Showers and thunderstorms were more prominent in central Minnesota during June than in earlier months. Still, much of central Minnesota ran a June rainfall deficit. The St. Cloud June rainfall, as measured at the St. Cloud Regional Airport, totalled 3.47 inches, still 1.04 inch below the normal amount of 4.51 inches.

Most of the rainfall fell during the second half of the month, as warm and humid air finally moved into or near Minnesota. During June 16-27, 2.66 inches of rain fell, above the normal pace of 1.84 inch for those 12 days. However, this came on the heels of a very dry month. Rainfall between May 16 and June 15, only 0.88 inch fell, well below the normal amount of 4.00 inches. For the growing season (April 1-June 30), St. Cloud has picked up 6.47 inches, more than three inches below the normal total of 9.61 inches.

This dry spring has been a continuation of the extremely dry conditions that affected east central and southeastern Minnesota since the middle of last summer. Much of the area south and east of Sherburne County ran rainfall deficits of 8-12 inches through the second half of last year's growing season. Rainfall deficits so far this growing season in west central Minnesota and the Twin Cities and Lower St. Croix Valley have been running at 4-6 inches below normal. In fact, the St. Cloud area from Royalton to Clearwater and South Haven has picked up the most rainfall in central Minnesota. According to the June 23 National Drought Mitigation Center's Drought Monitor, most of the southern half of Minnesota is shown to be abnormally dry, but the Twin Cities to Faribault and Red Wing are shown to be affected by the severe drought conditions that dominate the northwestern third of Wisconsin and western Upper Michigan.

The heavy rainfall during the middle of June brought the first tornado outbreak of the year to southern Minnesota on June 17. On the following day, areas just to the north and west of St. Cloud had large hail fall in severe storms. These storms produced hail ranging from quarter sized to golf ball sized in Cold Spring, Holdingford, Bowlus, Rice, and St. Stephen. There were also some brief tornado touchdowns in south central Minnesota on June 21.

The weather pattern that has featured the stalled weather system over the Great Lakes, as seen on the College of DuPage national 24-hour water vapor loop, has resumed the dry weather pattern. That has pushed the really humid air, noted by dew points of at least 60 degrees (brown areas on the UCAR US Dew Point Analysis), has been pushed unusually far southward to Oklahoma and Arkansas and points southward, making it hard for moisture to move into any weather system approaching Minnesota. There are hints, however, that the hot, humid air will build northward next week, bringing back at least a chance of significant rainfall into the Northern Plains.

In contrast to the dry conditions of southern and eastern Minnesota, the Minnesota portion of the Red River Valley is again experiencing flooding. Heavy rainfall on the 16th and on the 26th and 27th has pushed the Red River out of its banks, although not close to the high levels seen during the spring snowmelt floods.

Finally, Some Summer Weather in Mid- and Late July

Summer weather finally arrived in St. Cloud by the middle of June, but it was a long wait. Saint Cloud's average June temperature was 63.4°F, 1.7°F colder than normal. The two weeks of warm weather arrived on June 13 and continued through June 27. High temperatures felt like summer (11 of 14 days with a high of at least 80°F, including a 91°F high on June 23) and the generally humid conditions not only led to the rainy period of June 16-27 but also produced 7 days with a low of at least 60 degrees.

This was in sharp contrast to the cooler weather that occurred earlier. The first 13 days of June were all colder than normal and continued a streak that began with the previous 90-degree day on May 20. From May 21 through June 13, 22 of the 24 days were colder than normal. The average temperature of June 1-13 was 55.1°F (avg. high of 66.9°F; avg. low of 43.3°F), which is near normal weather for the first week of May and eight and a half degrees colder than normal. In contrast, June 13-26 had an average temperature more than 15 degrees warmer (avg: 70.2°F; avg. high 82.5°F; avg. low 57.9°F). The cool early June weather included 8 days with a high cooler than 70 degrees and 3 straight days (June 6-8) with a high not reaching 60 degrees. June 6 had a high of only 52°F, tying the record cold low for the date, and June 7's high of 53°F set a new record cold low for the date. The last time that St. Cloud temperatures didn't make it to 60 degrees for three straight days in June was in 1935. The cold weather of early June dominated Minnesota and the Dakotas, even producing measurable snow in northwestern North Dakota.

Cool weather has again moved into Minnesota during the last three days of the month, but there are signs that the cooler weather pattern will be broken by early next week.

    June 2009 Statistics