October 2019 Saint Cloud Weather Summary

Saint Cloud October 2019 Weather Summary  

The rains continued through the first two-thirds of October in St. Cloud and much of Minnesota. Even though the month ended on the longest streak with no measurable rainfall (October 23-31) since March 15-April 1, the October rainfall total was 3.84 inches, 1.35 inches above average. More importantly, the total rainfall for the year reached 38.73 inches, 13.20 inches above average. That makes first 10 months of 2019 the second wettest on record. Only the first 10 months of 1897 were wetter.

Already the 2019 total ranks as the 3rd highest for the entire year, and the most since 1965. The total stands only 0.59 inch behind 1965 and 2.28 inches behind 1897. The weather pattern has dried out considerably with much more northwest-to-southeast flow (see Mid-tropospheric water vapor loop from Colorado State satellite slider), but the average precipitation for November and December combined is 2.20 inches, so the all-time record is possible.

The growing season (April through November) precipitation is up to 34.67 inches, only 0.57 inch behind 1905.

Included in the 105 days with measurable precipitation so far this year are:

• 10 days with at least an inch, tied for 7th most
• 31 days with half an inch of rain, in 3rd place
• 44 days with a quarter inch of precip, 5th most

A swath of the heaviest monthly rains reached from Redwood Falls through Meeker County, St. Cloud, Foley, and Onamia and to Cloquet and Duluth. Much of this area received over 5 inches of rain in October. This has led to near record flooding for the fall along the Red, Minnesota, and Mississippi Rivers below Lake Pepin. Having so much moisture this late in the season also makes the ground more vulnerable to spring flooding.

The temperature during the precipitation took a major fall during the month as colder weather dominated. This allowed St. Cloud to record its 5th earliest measurable snowfall in St. Cloud records when 0.5 inch fell on the night of October 11 through October 12. The 0.2 inch that fell before midnight on the 11th was only preceded by:

• September 21, 1995 (0.2 inch)
• September 26, 1942 (1.8 inches, earliest inch)
• October 9, 1970 (0.4 inches)
• October 10, 2009 (0.9 inch)

Even with that snow, St. Cloud and most of central and southern Minnesota missed the major blizzard that hit eastern North Dakota, the Red River Valley, and northwestern Minnesota (see NWS Grand Forks Summary of the October 10-12 Blizzard in Red River Valley). Between 1 and 3 feet of snow fell in the western Red River Valley. Fargo-Moorhead and Grand Forks had a mixture of rain, ice, and snow that ended up as accumulating snowfall.

The colder temperatures that dominated the month ended up producing an average temperature of 42.9 degrees, 2.8 degrees below average. While 8 days had temperatures that were above average, there were 6 days with temperatures at least 10 degrees colder than average. The most persistent below average temperatures took place after the rain stopped, when that northwest-to-southeast flow began steering in drier air from Canada. This kept the really moist air from the Gulf of Mexico bottled up well to our south, allowing the colder temperatures.

The colder readings produced St. Cloud's first frost of the year on October 11. The near freezing temperatures allowed the snow to briefly accumulate. The first hard freeze (temperature of 28 degrees or colder) took place on October 24. The first frost was 16 days later than average while the first hard freeze was 20 days later than average. This was not late enough to make up for the late start to the planting season.

The first half of November will be dominated by much colder than average temperatures, thanks to the persistent northwest-to-southeast winds. This will also tend to keep us dry. However, it likely won't allow us to break any temperature records. Nearly all of the late October and early November cold temperature records happened when there was a snow cover. In early November, many of the records were set after the Halloween blizzard of 1991.

    October 2019 Statistics