Weather

December 2020 Saint Cloud Weather Summary


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(December 2020 Summary)

Roller Coaster Fall

 

Severe Weather

Spring Rainfall Comes Infrequently in Large Doses

 

Warmer than Average 2020 Finishes With Roller Coaster Fall

Annual 2020 St. Cloud Weather Summary

While the year 2020 was tumultuous, the weather in Minnesota was generally benign, especially in comparison to recent years. All weather parameters were closer to average than they had been in 2019. The annual average temperature at the St. Cloud Municipal Airport was 44.0 degrees, 1.1 degrees warmer than average. The warmer than average conditions contained a warmer than average summer (by 2.5 degrees), which had more warmth than several years since the 2008-2012 period. There were 10 days that reached at least 90 degrees, typical of 2010 and 2011. This period included a high of 96 degrees on June 8, only the second day since 2011 with a high of 96 degrees or warmer. This year also produced 2 lows of at least 70 degrees. Since 2013, only 2018 has had more than 2 days that warm and sticky. The South and West Coast were dominated by very hot summers that lasted into the fall. St. Cloud only occasionally got into those hot regimes, but did see a large area of smoke blow in from the western forest fires.

However, the oddest temperature portion of 2020 was the roller coaster temperatures during the fall. While the fall average temperature ended up only half a degree away from average, fall featured extreme cold periods in September, October, and November, and relative heat waves, especially in November. A cold spell in the first half of September ended up producing the first frost in several places with record low temperatures across three days in St. Cloud. That early frost on September 10 kept the growing season to only 119 days, 18 days fewer than average.

An even colder period set in during the second half of October. The cold outbreak produced one of the strongest early season snowstorms in Minnesota history, followed by a period of record cold temperatures, including highs colder than freezing and lows as cold as the teens. The entire month of October ended up being St. Cloud's 5th coldest October on record and the snowiest October on record.

The continued warmth in the South and West blew into Minnesota in early November, producing one of Minnesota's warmest November periods. In St. Cloud, the warm period produced 9 record warm temperatures between November 3 and 8, including a new record high (76) for the entire month of November on the 6th and a new record warm average (64) for the entire month on the 8th. However, much colder weather came in behind a major November 10 snowstorm (7.2 inches, the largest snowstorm of the year). The cooler readings that came in with the snow knocked November's average temperature to only rank as the 15th mildest on record.

The constant wild swings of temperatures during the fall only produced 31 of the 91 days that were within 5 degrees of the daily average temperature.

December continued the November overall trend of milder than average conditions. The average St. Cloud temperature was 21.9 degrees, 6.0 degrees warmer than average. Unfortunately, the mild weather was the miserable side of mild. Conditions were often cloudy with long periods of dense fog.

Near Average Precipitation, Often in Short Brief Bursts

The precipitation of 2020 was spotty. St. Cloud ended up with 26.74 inches, 0.97 inches below average. However, the precipitation came in fits and starts. The snowfall tapered off from late 2019 into early 2020. The period between February and May finally allowed the ground to dry out from the record wet 2019. And, the precipitation of that period was dominated by spotty heavy precipitation periods. More than 70 percent of the precipitation fell in a two-day period of each month between March and May. St. Cloud got a glancing blow from several of these events that produced far more precipitation elsewhere. The heavy area precipitation event was the June 29-30 Heavy Rainfall in Little Falls and Pierz which produced 5-8 inches of rain in parts of Lincoln, Morrison, and Wadena counties.

More rainfall did occur during July and August in St. Cloud. The heaviest precipitation was on August 14, when 3.09 inches fell in St. Cloud. This storm also included a number of tornadoes in southern Minnesota and large hail as storms redevelop in the afternoon (see August 14 Tornado and Hail Outbreak). The storms that affected parts of Minnesota included the first EF-4 tornado in Minnesota since 2010

Across Minnesota, the rainfall was far less in western and northeastern Minnesota. At times, these parts of Minnesota had short-term drought conditions, but the drier conditions overall helped to improve the growing conditions for much of the crops.

After huge amounts of recent snowfall, the 2020 total snowfall was 44.8 inches, 1.3 inches short of average. The heaviest snow months were January, October, and November with significantly less than average snowfall in February, March, and April. St. Cloud did however just miss a southern Minnesota major snowstorm on Easter Sunday.

In December, the precipitation was relatively light with only 0.53 inch of melted precipitation, 0.29 inch below average. Only 7.5 inches of snow fell during the month, 3.0 inches below average. Nearly no snow fell until the December 23 blizzard, causing the usual period of constant snow cover to begin very late in the month.

Top of Page
(December 2020 Summary)

Roller Coaster Fall

 

Severe Weather

 

    December 2020 Statistics

Temperatures (°F)
December 2020
Normal
December Average High Temperature (°F)
31.2
24.7
December Average Low Temperature (°F)
12.7
7.1
Mean Temperature for December (°F)
21.9
15.9

 10 Warmest Decembers

   

December Extremes

Temperature(°F)
Date
Warmest High Temperature for December 2020 (°F)
43
December 4
Coldest High Temperature for December 2020 (°F)
4
December 24
Warmest Low Temperature for December 2020 (°F)
30
December 7
Coldest Low Temperature for December 2020 (°F)
-9
December 25, 29
Record Temperatures in December 2020
Temperature(°F)
Date
Old Record
  No Temperature Records Set
Temperature Thresholds
Number of Days
Normal
December 2020 Days with High Temperatures <= 32°F
17
23.5
December 2020 Days with High Temperatures <= 0°F
0
1.0
December 2020 Days with Low Temperatures <= 32°F
31
25.7
December 2020 Days with Low Temperatures <= 0°F
6
9.9
December 2020 Days with Low Temperatures <= -20°F
0
0.9
Melted Precipitation (in)
December 2020
Normal
December 2020 Melted Precipitation (in)
0.53
0.82
 
Precipitation Thresholds
Number of Days
Normal
December 2020 Days with Measurable (>= 0.01 inch) Precipitation
6
6.6
December 2020 Days with >= 0.10 inch Precipitation
2
2.0
December 2020 Days with >= 0.25 inch Precipitation
1
0.7
December 2020 Days with >= 0.50 inch Precipitation
0
0.1
December 2020 Days with >= 1.00 inch Precipitation
0
0.0
December Extremes
Precipitation (in)
Date
Most Daily Precipitation in December 2020
0.32
December 29
Record Precipitation in December 2020
Precipitation (in)
Date
Old Record
No Records Set
Snowfall (in)
December 2020
Normal
December 2020 Saint Cloud Airport Snowfall (in)
7.5
10.5
2020-2021 Seasonal Snowfall (1 Oct 2020 - 31 Dec 2020)
23.3
20.1
 
Snowfall Thresholds
Number of Days
Normal
December 2020 Days with Measurable (>= 0.1 inch) Snowfall
6
8.3
December 2020 Days with >= 1.0 inch Snowfall
2
3.2
December 2020 Days with >= 2.0 inch Snowfall
2
1.6
December 2020 Days with >= 5.0 inch Snowfall
0
0.2
     
December Extremes
Snowfall (in)
Date
Most Daily Snowfall in December 2020
3.5
December 29
Record Snowfall in December 2020
Snowfall (in)
Date
Old Record
No records set
     

 

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(December 2020 Summary)

Roller Coaster Fall

 

Severe Weather

 

 

2020 Statistics

Temperatures (°F)
2020
Average
Average High Temperature (°F)
54.3
53.7
Average Low Temperature (°F)
33.7
32.1
Mean Temperature for 2020 (°F)
44.0
42.9
     
2020 Temperature Thresholds
2020
Average
Warm Season    
2020 Days with High Temperatures >= 90°F
10
11.4
2020 Days with High Temperature >= 100°F
0
0.5
2020 Days with Low Temperatures >= 70°F
2
3.0
2020 Days with Low Temperatures >= 75°F
0
0.47
Growing Season (Consecutive Days with Low Temp>= 32°F) May 13-Sept 9
119
137
Cold Season
2020 Days with High Temperatures <= 32°F
78
87.7
2020 Days with High Temperatures <= 0°F
2
4.3
2020 Days with Low Temperatures <= 32°F
190
170.4
2020 Days with Low Temperatures <= 0°F
24
42.5
2020 Days with Low Temperatures <= -20°F
0
5.4
Liquid Equivalent Precipitation (in)
2020
1981-2020 Average
2020 Total Precipitation (in)
26.74
27.71
Wettest/Driest Years in St. Cloud Records    
Precipitation Thresholds
2020
1896-2020 Average
2020 Days with Measurable (>= 0.01 inch) Precipitation
101
97.3
2020 Days with >= 0.10 inch Precipitation
44
52.9
2020 Days with >= 0.25 inch Precipitation
27
32.1
2020 Days with >= 0.50 inch Precipitation
16
16.8
2020 Days with >= 1.00 inch Precipitation
9
5.5
Snowfall (in)
2020
1981-2020 Average
2020 Total Snowfall
44.8
46.1
Precipitation Thresholds
2020
1904-2020 Average
2020 Total Days with Measurable (>= 0.1 inch) Snowfall
35
32.5
2020 Total Days with >= 1.0 inch Snowfall
12
14.0
2020 Total Days with >= 2.0 inch Snowfall
8
7.6
2020 Total Days with >= 5.0 inch Snowfall
2
1.5
 
2020 Month-by-Month Summary January-July
Temperature (°F)
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul
Average High Temperature 23.4 26.4 41.0 53.4 66.3 82.9 83.7
Average Low Temperature 8.5 4.6 25.1 32.1 45.6 57.5 60.4
Mean Temperature 15.9 15.5 33.1 41.8 56.0 70.2 72.0
Departure from Normal +4.3 -1.5 +3.7 -2.7 -0.5 +4.6 +1.7
2020 Warmest High Temperature

96 on June 8

2020 Coldest High Temperature -2 on February 13
2020 Warmest Low Temperature 73 on June 8
2020 Coldest Low Temperature -18 on February 13
   
2020 Daily Record Temperatures
Temperature (°F)
Date
Monthly Warm High Temperature (November set)
76
November (6)
Monthly Warm Average Temperature (November set)
64
November (8)
Record Warm High Temperature (3 broken, 1 tied)
74 (tie)
November 3
75
November 4
76
November 6
69
November 7
Record Warm Average Temperature (4 broken, 1 tied)
85
June 8
80 (tie)
June 16
61
November 6
63
November 7
64
November 8
Record Warm Low Temperature (3 broken)
73
June 8
57
November 8
57
November 9
Record Cold High Temperature (4 broken)
53
September 8
51
September 9
30
October 24
27
October 25
Record Cold Average Temperature (4 broken, 1 tied)
47
September 8
42
September 9
25
October 24
21
October 26
22 (tied)
October 27
Record Cold Low Temperature (3 tied)
33 (tied)
September 9
30 (tied)
September 10
13 (tied)
October 26
Precipitation (in)
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul
Liquid Precipitation 1.09  0.16 2.00 1.31  1.05 (9th driest) 2.63 5.39
Departure from Normal +0.44 -0.43 +0.45 -1.26 -1.90 -1.54 +2.08
Most in 24 hours 3.09 on August 14
New Daily Precipitation Records Set
Amount (inches)
Date
Daily Record Precipitation (2 broken)
3.09
August 14
1.11
October 11
Snowfall (in)
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul
Snowfall 14.3 1.8 4.4 1.0 Trace 0.0 0.0
Departure from Normal +6.4 -5.35 -3.7 -1.9 - - -
Most in 24 hours 7.2 inches on November 10
     
New Snowfall Records Set
Amount (inches)
Date
Daily Record Snowfall (1 broken)
7.0
October 20

 

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(December 2020 Summary)

Roller Coaster Fall

 

Severe Weather

 

2020 Month-by-Month Summary August-December
Temperature (°F)
Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec 2020
Average High Temperature 79.9 68.6 49.3 45.9 31.2 54.3
Average Low Temperature 57.5 45.8 30.7 26.0 12.7 33.7
Mean Temperature 68.7 57.2 40.0 (5th Coldest) 36.0 21.9 44.0
Departure from Normal -0.9 -1.4 -5.7 +5.6 +6.0 +1.1

 

Precipitation (in)
Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec 2020
Liquid Precipitation 6.16 1.98 2.17 2.27 0.53 26.74
Departure from Normal +2.37 -1.48 -0.32 +0.89 -0.29 -0.97
Snowfall (in)
Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec 2020
Snowfall 0.0 0.0 7.8 (snowiest Oct) 8.0 7.5 44.8(4th highest)
Departure from Normal - - +7.1 -0.9.9 -3.0 +2.8
Top of Page
(December 2020 Summary)

Roller Coaster Fall

 

Severe Weather

 

 

 

Saint Cloud Hottest Annual Temperatures (1988-2020)
Year
Hottest High (°F)
Date
Days with High >= 97°F
1988
102°F
June 24, July 31
13
(7 days with >= 100°F)
1989
98°F
August 4
1
1990
101°F
July 3
1
1991
95°F
July 18
0
1992
92°F
June 12, August 9
0
1993
90°F
August 10
0
1994
95°F
June 14
0
1995
97°F
June 17, July 13
2
1996
96°F
June 28
0
1997
95°F
June 23
0
1998
94°F
May 18
0
1999
98°F
July 30
2
2000
94°F
June 9
0
2001
98°F
August 6, 7
4
2002
95°F
June 30, July 6
0
2003
96°F
August 24
0
2004
96°F
June 30
0
2005
98°F
June 23
1
2006
101°F
July 31
5
2007
96°F
August 10
0
2008
91°F
June 6, 11, August 18
0
2009
92°F
May 20
0
2010
94°F
May 24
0
2011
101°F
June 7
1
2012
94°F
May 18
0
2013
95°F
May 14, Aug 26
0
2014
94°F
July 21
0
2015
91°F
August 14
0
2016
93°F
July 22
0
2017
92°F
July 17
0
2018
97°F
June 30
1
2019
92°F
July 15
0
2020
96°F
June 8
0

 

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(December 2020 Summary)

Roller Coaster Fall

 

Severe Weather

Historic temperature data provided courtesy of the Saint Cloud National Weather Service Office, and NOAA/NWS
National Weather Service logo NOAA logo

Send comments to: raweisman@stcloudstate.edu