March 2021 Saint Cloud Weather Summary

Winter Weather Leaves Minnesota Quickly

2021 March St. Cloud, MN Weather Summary

After a February of cold intense enough to threaten one of the 10 coldest Februaries up until the last week of the month, St. Cloud got back on the temperature roller coaster that dominated December (6.0 degrees above average) and January (8.0 degrees above average). After March 1, the high temperature was only colder than 40 degrees on 2 days and the low temperatures only dropped below 20 degrees twice. Temperatures alternated between streaks in the 40's, which were 5-10 degrees above average, and streaks in the 60's and 70's, which were more than 20 degrees warmer than average. The net result was a March 2021 average temperature of 36.9 degrees, 7.5 degrees milder than average. This ended up being the 7th mildest March in the 128 years of St. Cloud temperature records.

This included a first day of 60-degree highs on March 9, within 5 days of average, and the first day of 70-degree highs on March 29, 20 days earlier than average (see below).

Despite a March 1 snowfall that brought the snow pack to 8 inches, the following warmth rid the ground of snow cover by March 7, the first day in 74 days without a snow cover. While there were a pair of wet snowstorms on March 11 and March 13, the snow quickly melted, allowing the sun's heat to warm the ground. On March 9, the warmth produced a record warm day with a high of 61 (tying the record), a low of 42 (breaking the old record of 35, set in 1911) and an average temperature of 52 (breaking the old record of 48, set in 1911).

The snow events did produce a total of 7.1 inches of new snow in March. That brought the 2020-2021 snowfall to 44.2 inches, 1.2 inches above average. There have been 95 days so far this cold season with snow cover, 73 of them in a row between December 24 and March 6. Those are still slightly below average and certainly less than during the three heavy snowfall seasons during the 2010's: 2012-2013, 2013-2014 and 2018-2019. However, the odd part of the snow season so far is that the two heaviest snowfalls of the season were before the usual persistent snow cover. There were 7.0 inches on October 20 and 7.2 inches on November 10. Both of these snowfalls were so early that they completely melted within a week.

There were 2.17

So, the overall November through March period has averaged nearly five degrees warmer than average. It is the 14th mildest November through March in St. Cloud records.

Still, the intense cold of February and another colder than average period in January were quite intense. Despite the well above normal average temperatures, St. Cloud ended up with 8 days that never got above zero, nearly 4 days more than average. 5 of these days were in a row, the longest streak since the record-setting cold of 1996. There were 5 days with a low of -20 or colder, which is also about average. There was a streak of 13 days with a low of zero or colder, the longest streak since 1999. However, the cold was not prolonged, so there were only 24 total days with a low of zero or colder, well under the 42.7 day average.

With the snow gone, the biggest weather-related problem was the dried out surface vegetation. This was more aggravated by a low snow year in western Minnesota (set map to seasonal total) and a dry end of 2020. Much of the soil was listed as dry, except those areas that picked up some of the heaviest precipitation during the month. St. Cloud picked up substantial rain and snow with 0.77 inches on March 10-11 and more significant rain, 0.78 inch on March 23-24. The 0.72 inch on March 10 set a daily record for precipitation. Much of the state is in needed of rainfall, as listed by the US Drought Monitor (with precipitation data through Monday, March 30).

The reason for the frequently warm and mostly dry March was the reappearance of a splitting of the steering winds over North America. The northern branch mainly persisted through Canada, locking the really cold air to the northern third of Canada. After the first, it only got loose during the two chilly days of March 15 and 16, when highs were limited to the 30's. Except for the March 9-10 storm, the active storm track from the Southwestern US to the Mid-Atlantic states and the Northeast kept the serious precipitation well to our south. Only south central and eastern Minnesota got over 3 inches of precipitation, thanks to the heavier precipitation on March 9 and 10. That also meant that the flooding seen in Nashville and the tornado outbreaks across the Interior Southeast, especially in Alabama, remained well to our south.

Minnesota was touched by severe weather on March 10, with some large hailstones in southern Minnesota.