October 2014 Saint Cloud Weather Summary

Saint Cloud October 2014 Weather Summary  

Even with some slowdown in rainfall in September, St. Cloud was still on track for the fourth rainiest year on record with 33.43 inches through September. However, rainfall slowed down during the last two-thirds of September and that slowdown continued through October. The Saint Cloud Airport only picked up 0.65 inch of rain in October, 1.84 inches below the October average. October is the driest month of 2014 so far and only the second month (July) that was at least an inch behind in rainfall. To put this in perspective, every other month during the growing season (April through October), except July (the only other month with at least an inch less than average rainfall) had at least a single day rain higher than the total October rainfall.

From September 10 through the end of October, the Saint Cloud Airport has picked up less than an inch of rain (0.97 inch). The average for that period is 4.03 inches.

Through the month of October, the year-to-date rainfall is now 34.08 inches, more than eight and a half inches above the ten-month average of 25.53 inches. This ranks as the 6th highest January-October rainfall in St. Cloud records. For the growing season (April-October), the 30.37 inches St. Cloud has received in 2014 is more than 7 inches above the 22.74 inch average and the 7th highest April-October rainfall on record.

The dropoff in rain was produced by a large change in storm track movement. Even though cold air wasn't always being drained from Canada into the Northern Plains, any warm-up usually happened after cooler air moved all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, so large amounts of moisture had trouble reaching Minnesota, even when the air flow was from the south. The moisture would tend to arrive when storms moved just to the east of Minnesota, so there were 2-4 inches of rainfall in Duluth and southeastern Minnesota.

Despite some cooler air masses from the north and a chilly start to the month, October ended up much milder than average. The October average temperature was 48.2°F, 2.5°F warmer than average. It was the third straight month with a temperature at least two and a half degrees warmer than average. In fact, the average August-October temperature of 60.3°F is 2.3°F above average and the warmest August-October temperature since 1998. In fact, 1998 and 2014 were only August-October temperatures of at least 60.3°F since 1963.

The first frost in St. Cloud did not occur until October 5, falling among the latest 20% dates for first frost. The first hard freeze (temperature colder than 28 degrees) fell on October 11, among the latest 30% of first freeze dates. However, note that there were a number of central Minnesota locations that had a frost in mid-September.

As the calendar turns toward November, it's time to consider the threat of snow. Note that the average amount of snowfall in the month of November is 8.9 inches, although St. Cloud hasn't seen that much November snow since 2003. November also averages 4 days with measurable snowfall, including 1.8 days with at least an inch and 1.0 days with at least 2 inches. The average date for the first inch of snow on the ground is November 15. It has come as early as October 10 and as late as January 1. However, early November snows tend not to stay for long. The usual first day of our prolonged streak of snow cover is December 10 and it lasts, on the average, 86 days.

    October 2014 Statistics