April 2018 Saint Cloud Weather Summary

It Was the ______-est Febru-April of All Time!

Coldest April (tie) Produces 12 Records

The late season winter relapse hit critical condition in April 2018. The average April temperature at the St. Cloud Regional Airport was 33.8 degrees, 10.8 degrees below average. So, April 2018 tied April 1950 for the coldest April in St. Cloud records . The month set a record with a 22.4 degree average low temperature. The old record was 24.8 degrees in April 1950. This was the first month in St. Cloud with a temperature at least 10 degrees below average since December 2013 (10.0 degrees below average).

April was relentlessly cold, with a surge of arctic air that has remained in northern Canada for a month pushing into the North Central States and beyond. That cold came in after a 6.3 inch snowstorm during the last two days of March and another 7.7 inches of snow the first 3 days of April. That cold air over the deep snow cover produced highs that failed to reach freezing 7 of the first eight days of the month and low temperatures in the plus single digits. That period produce 8 daily record cold temperatures, including the latest date for a zero degree low on April 5 (old record April 4, set in 1975).

The cold eased somewhat on the 10th-12th, but another mixed precipitation turning to snow storm on April 13-15 produced another 6.0 inches of snowfall in St. Cloud. The reduced temperatures during the snow produced the latest high to fail to reach 30 degrees on April 15 (old record: April 13, 1928) and 4 daily cold records. High temperatures in the 20's are typical of mid-February, not April.

Temperatures began to ease in central Minnesota during the second half of the month. Areas from St. Cloud and north missed the record-setting April blizzard on the 13th through the 16th. St. Cloud finally made it to 50 degrees for the first time this year on April 19, the 3rd latest first 50-degree high and got to 60 degrees for the first time on April 22 (6th latest first 60-degree high). While those thresholds were more than a month late, St. Cloud's first 70-degree high came on April 23, only 6 days late, and the first 80-degree high came on the last day of the month, 4 days early.

Still, 27 of the 30 days in April were colder than average with only the last day of the month having a mean temperature more than a degree above average.

4th Snowiest April

As noted above, the snow was a major part of the cold. St. Cloud picked up 14.8 inches of April snow, nearly 12 inches above average. April 2018 now ranks as the 4th snowiest April. The total February through April snowfall was 46.3 inches, the third Feb-Apr highest total. For the spring season (March 1-May 31) so far, St. Cloud has picked up 30.2 inches of snow, which ranks as the 6th snowiest spring.

In an average winter, St. Cloud has 86 days of consecutive snow cover of at least 1 inch. This winter, that streak came late with 75 consecutive days between February 4 and April 20. That date of April 20 was the latest final day of the streak on record. The old record was April 15, 1975. After a long period with no snow cover in January, St. Cloud ended up with 125 days with at least an inch of snow on the ground, ranking 18th most on record. The cold season average is 101 days.

The amount of water contained in the snow was below average with 1.41 inch, 1.16 inch below average. That's because the bulk of the snow St. Cloud received was fluffy snow in very cold air. St. Cloud only was brushed by the April 13-16 storm that produced over 20 inches in the Twin Cities.

In the past 6 winters, there have been two years ranking in the top 5 in snowfall (2012-2013 and 2013-2014), this season that was well above average, and three of the warmest winters on record (2011-2012, 2015-2016, and 2016-2017).

The lingering effects of the late season snow were: some minor to moderate flooding along the Red, Minnesota, and Mississippi Rivers south of St. Paul. A few bridges were closed for several days in Henderson and along the Minnesota-North Dakota border. The other effect has been the very slow melting of Minnesota lakes. Only Lake Pepin had ice out before April 22 and most smaller lakes across Minnesota were not ice free until the last week of April. Most larger lakes are still not ice free as of early May.

April 2018 Statistics