St. Cloud, MN Weather Forecast

More Than an Inch and a Half of Needed Rain

Yesterday was the first major rainfall event (see College of DuPage north central US radar loop) St. Cloud has seen since mid-July (2.26 inches July 21-23). There was already more than an inch of rain as of 7 AM yesterday morning (set NWS Water Prediction Service Minnesota precipitation map to yesterday's date and last 1 day). The St. Cloud Sky Central Airport has picked up a total of 1.81 inch since the rain began (see NWS: last 72 hours of St. Cloud observations). We'll see the total amount of rainfall when the reports all come in later this morning (see about 10 AM on the NWS Water Prediction Site). 

This will aid the rivers in central Minnesota with below average streamflow (brown dots on the USGS National Water Dashboard when you zoom into Minnesota). That includes the Mississippi River from St. Cloud to Aitkin and the Crow Ring River to Nimrod (see Minnesota DNR Streamflow and jump in St. Cloud stream flow the last two days by clicking on the St. Cloud icon).

Very Little Additional Rain Expected Through the Middle of Next Week

However, we are done with major rainfall for the next week to 10 days (see Days 4-7 of the NWS WPC quantitative precipitation forecast). There will be only a chance of a few brief scattered showers on Wednesday and Thursday. The main steering winds will become more northwest to southeast from southern Canada into Minnesota this week. So, the low in Alberta and Saskatchewan (see College of DuPage North America water vapor loop) will drift over Minnesota tomorrow.  The associated cold air pocket aloft will allow a lot of midday and afternoon clouds to develop. There will be a few widely scattered brief showers with the best chance tomorrow afternoon and still a shot for a stray sprinkle on Thursday afternoon. However, the rainfall total will be only a few hundredths of an inch at most (most of us won't get anything; see Days 2-3 of the NWS WPC quantitative precipitation forecast).

Average High Breaks 60, But 50's the Rest of Work Week

St. Cloud's average high temperature reaches 60 degrees today, but we won't get that warm until the weekend. Highs will mainly be in the low to middle 50's, with even a near 50 degree high possible on Thursday. Lows will generally be in the 30's with a chance for frost during any clear, calm night.

We should see the return of highs in the 60's by the weekend.

Precipitation Chances Not Great Here Through the Middle of Next Week

There will be a shot at some rain showers with any cool front moving from Canada. However, the bulk of the moisture is expected to remain no further to the north than the Southern Plains by the weekend (see Days 4-7 of the NWS WPC quantitative precipitation forecast), so I don't see the next chance for significant Minnesota rainfall at least into the middle of next week. That rain to our south is also badly needed (see areas of red on the US Drought Monitor), but it also comes with a severe weather threat today, following up on the large area of wind damage in yesterday's storms to our south.