May and Spring 2017 Saint Cloud Weather Summary

May First Cooler Than Average Month of Past 21 Months

May and Spring 2017 Saint Cloud Weather Summaries

The St. Cloud Airport, like much of southern and central Minnesota, has had a streak of above average temperature that tracks back to August 2015. Note, however, that 3 of the warmer months from last year were less than a degree above average and 7 months were less than 2 degrees above average, including both March and April.

However, this streak has been brought to an end by the cool and rainy pattern this May. The average temperature was 54.9°F, 1.6°F below average. 17 of the 31 days in May were cooler than average, including 12 days in the last two weeks of the month. The persistent coolness was caused by a frequent storm track that brought storms over Minnesota, then stalled them. That means showers and thunderstorms when the warm front was in the area, and lingering showers as the pocket of cool air aloft pushed over Minnesota. Despite the cool temperatures, the persistent overnight clouds and relatively high dew points due to all of the precipitation led to a near average low temperature (43.7°F, 0.5°F below average).

Rain Above Average and Very Wet in Parts of Benton and Stearns Counties

As noted above, rainfall was well above average for the second straight month. The St. Cloud Airport reported 4.44 inches of precipitation in May, 1.49 inch above average. Close to St. Cloud, parts of Benton and eastern Stearns County had over 5 inches of rain in May, with much more from the Twin Cities southeast along the Mississippi River and in Wisconsin. However, March was relatively dry, so the meteorological spring (March 1-May 31) precipitation was 8.38 inches, only 1.31 inch above average. For 2017 so far, St. Cloud has seen 9.70 inches, 1.39 inch above average.

According to the USDA Weekly Minnesota Crop Progress and Condition report from May 28 (index of all reports found here), more than 20 percent of state top soil had a surplus of moisture. 76 percent had adequate moisture with only 1 percent listed as being short.

St. Cloud's First May Inch of Snow in 56 Years

Included in that precipitation was 1.0 inch of snow on May 1. This was the first measurable May snow in St. Cloud since 2005 (0.1 inch). It was the first May inch of snow since 3.2 inches fell on May 19, 1971. This makes only the 6th May in St. Cloud records with at least an inch of snow. However, the 2016-2017 cold season still ended with 31.9 inches of snow. 14.2 inches below average. May 1 was also the most recent day with a frost.

Record Long Track Tornado in Wisconsin

There was severe weather in some of the thunderstorms across Minnesota. There were a few tornadoes in Minnesota and northern Wisconsin on May 16, including an EF-3 tornado that broke the Wisconsin record for longest track tornado. There were also tornadoes in Southeast Minnesota and Wisconsin on May 17

    

May 2017 Statistics