In December 2004, the Saint Cloud Municipal Airport has totaled only 2.0 inches of snow. That ranks as the 19th lowest December snowfall in the 99 complete years of Saint Cloud snowfall records. December 2002 had a lower snowfall total (1.7 inches), but the most recent brown December before then were in 1979 and 1980. The normal December snowfall is 7.9 inches.
The seasonal snowfall through December 2004 has totaled only 2.2 inches at the Saint Cloud Airport. As the table below shows, this is the 5th lowest snowfall total through December in the 99 years of recorded snowfall in Saint Cloud and the lowest total since December 1958. The average snowfall during the past 30 years is 19.1 inches and the 99-year historic record is 14.1 inches. The table also shows the 17 years with the lowest snowfall total through December. All of those years have ended up with below average snowfall and 7 of those years resulted in one of the 10 lowest seasonal snowfalls on record. The average cold season snowfall of those 17 years is 24.1 inches, only about half of the normal Saint Cloud snowfall total of 47.5 inches. Note also that only two of our recent mild years, 1998-1999 and 1999-2000, appear on this list. Again, the reason is that many of the recent mild years, including three of the past four cold seasons, have had above normal snowfall. The difference from earlier winters is that there has been only a relatively short period of persistent snow depth.
At Saint Cloud State University, the snowfall totals have been slightly higher. December snowfall was 3.2 inches and the seasonal snowfall through December is 3.6 inches.
It will also be interesting to see if any of these trends hold up through the first week of January, since we are on our way to a New Year's Day snow storm and continue to be in an active storm pattern, as noted in my latest forecast.
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BROWNEST YEARS
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October-December Snowfall
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Entire Cold Season Snowfall
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Rank
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Oct-Dec Snowfall
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Cold Season
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Total Cold Season Snowfall
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Rank Among 30
Brownest Seasons |
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1
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1.1 IN
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1939-1940
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25.7 IN
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19
|
|
2
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2.0 IN
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1922-1923
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30.5 IN
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|
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3(tie)
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2.1 IN
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1913-1914
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26.0 IN
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21
|
|
3(tie)
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2.1 IN
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1958-1959
|
14.1 IN
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2
|
|
5
|
2.2 IN
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2004-2005
|
??????
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?????
|
|
6
|
2.4 IN
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1980-1981
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16.5 IN
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4
|
|
7
|
3.0 IN
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1901-1902
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6.0 IN
|
1
|
|
8
|
3.1 IN
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1967-1968
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16.1 IN
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3
|
|
9(tie)
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3.8 IN
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1912-1913
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22.9 IN
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10
|
|
9(tie)
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3.8 IN
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1925-1926
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27.6 IN
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26
|
|
11
|
4.0 IN
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1931-1932
|
40.0 IN
|
|
|
12
|
4.2 IN
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1960-1961
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25.9 IN
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20
|
|
13
|
4.4 IN
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1923-1924
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23.4 IN
|
13
|
|
14
|
5.5 IN
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1954-1955
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28.5 IN
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28
|
|
15
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5.6 IN
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1999-2000
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28.1 IN
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27
|
|
16
|
5.7 IN
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1914-1915
|
20.6 IN
|
9
|
|
17
|
6.2 IN
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1998-1999
|
36.4 IN
|
|
|
18
|
6.5 IN
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1904-1905
|
20.0 IN
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7
|
|
Average of 17
Brownest Years |
3.9 IN
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24.1 IN
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30-Year Normal: 47.5 IN
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| 1890-2004 Normal: 41.6 IN | ||||
Other statements on Minnesota's snowfall and snow depth
