October 2026 Saint Cloud Weather Summary

Recent Warm Falls Continued in October

Latest 90-Degree High in St. Cloud, MN (3rd Time in Past 4 Octobers)

October 2026 once again produced a summer relapse in St. Cloud, MN (see Minnesota DNR summary of recent warm September and early Octobers). While the first 5 days of the month had near average temperatures (highs near the red-green border of the NWS October 2026 St. Cloud high-low temperature graph, lows near the green-blue border), the October 6-11 period produced 3 days with a high of at least 80 degrees with October 10 and 11 producing a series of record warm highs. On October 10, the high temperature was 90 degrees, breaking the daily record high. It was also the 16th 90-degree high of 2026 and the latest 90-degree high in St. Cloud records, breaking the previous latest 90-degree from October 4 of last year. That's the third time the last 90 degree high was the latest on record since 2023. Last year's 91 degree high still ranks as the hottest October high in St. Cloud records.

There was another very warm streak during October 17-24 with 4 highs over 70 degrees, running the October total to 9 days, 4 days higher than the October average (see total of 90 and 70 degree days in the statistics table below). The 2026 total of 70-degree highs is 139, the 15th highest total of 70-degree highs. There were 3 highs of at least 80 degrees with the October 10 and 11 highs setting daily records. That pushed the number of 80-degree days this warm season to 94, the second highest count of 80-degree highs (see table below). Only 1900 with 99 days had more 80 degree highs.

The low on October 11 was 62 degrees, so the total number of lows of at least 60 degrees was 60 days, ranking 5th (see table below). It was only 4 days short of the record tied just last year.

9th Warmest October, 8th Warmest Year So Far

Despite a cooler spell to end the month (highs in the 50's and 60's for most of the last week of October), the average St. Cloud October 2026 temperature ended up being 52.9 degrees, 7.2 degrees above average. That tied 2024 for the 9th warmest October in St. Cloud records. So far in 2026, the average St. Cloud temperature has been 49.7 degrees, 3.0 degrees above average and the 8th warmest January-October average temperature on record. Two years ago, the average was even warmer (52.1 degrees, the second warmest on record).

The current El Nino situation (unusual warm water off the South and Central America Pacific coast; see NWS Climate Prediction Center map of tropical Pacific water temperatures compared to average) favors warmer than average temperatures during the winter months (December through February), so we are likely to see a top 10 warmest year in 2026.

Growing Season Ended Late, But Frost-Free Period Merely Around Average

The dry conditions that dominated the first 23 days of October finally allowed a sub-freezing temperature on the night of October 16-17. St. Cloud had a low of 28 degrees on October 17, reaching 30 degrees by midnight on October 16. That was 16 days later than the average first frost (see 50% chance of a 32 low in the NOAA Summary of Annual Averages of First/Last Frost/Freeze Date). Still, the late last frost (May 20) left a growing season of 148 days, only 4 days above average and within the longest 40 percent of seasons. Since the October 17 temperature bottomed out at 28, this was also St. Cloud's first hard freeze of the season. It was 9 days later than the average first 28-degree low, but nearly ranked among the latest 20 percent of first freezes. However, the May 8 last freeze was 12 days later than average, so the number of days without a freeze was 161 days, 3 days less than average.

Major Rainfall Rally....But Only to Near Average

Through October 23, the St. Cloud Sky Central Airport had picked up only 0.30 inches, which would have been tied for the 10th driest October in St. Cloud records. But, the weather pattern changed, allowing some middle-level moisture to stream northward from a series of eastern Pacific hurricanes (see storms 20-22 on the 2026 eastern Pacific tropical cyclone track map from the NWS Hurricane Prediction Center). That very wet air got pulled over seasonably mild Canadian air to produce 1.91 inches on October 24-28. In fact, the heaviest rainfall from this period fell from Willmar through the St. Cloud area to Cambridge and Princeton (on the NWS Water Prediction Service Minnesota rainfall map, set the date to October 29 and the period to last 7 days).

So, the final St. Cloud October 2026 rainfall total ended up being 2.21 inches, within 0.40 inch of the 2.61 inch average. The late month rain didn't completely solve the long-term dry period. Both the growing season (April 1-Oct 31) rainfall and the calendar year (Jan 1-Oct 31) continue to be more than 6 inches short of average (see table below):

Still, we need a lot more rain. Only central and east central Minnesota ended up with between 2 and 4 inches of rain for the month (see yellow when you set NWS Water Prediction Service Minnesota map to month and October 2026). The rainfall shortage since August 2025 is still 10.17 inches, ranking as the 18th driest August of last year through October of this year period in St. Cloud records (set US Drought Monitor two map comparison to November 2 and September 29). 

There has been further easing during the first week of November with nearly two and a half inches of rainfall (set NWS Water Prediction Service Minnesota map to November 5, after 11 AM on November 5,  and past 5 days). That rain is about two and a half times the average rainfall for the entire month of November.

October 2026 Statistics

Last Update: 5 October 2026