February 2006 Saint Cloud Weather Summary

   During a winter in which winter weather was rare, February provided at least a return to reality. According to the statistics from the Saint Cloud Regional Airport, the average February temperature was 14.5°F (average high of 25.4°F; average low of 3.6°F), 1.5°F colder than normal for February. Overall, the month had about as many above normal days as below normal days.

   The slightly colder than normal February could not make up for a warm December and a record warm January. The average temperature for meteorological winter (Dec. 1 - Jan. 31) was 19.33°F, 6.2°F above normal. This temperature tied 1943-1944 and 1989-1990 for the 9th mildest winter of the 125 winters in Saint Cloud records. Technically, the winter of 1907-1908 also had an average of 19.3°F, but the actual average that year was 19.26°F, slightly colder than the other three. This is also the 6th winter out of the 9 warmer than normal winters that have occurred since 1997 which have placed among the 20 warmest winters in Saint Cloud records (125 winters total). This winter also marked only the 26th winter in which February was the coldest month.

   February's longest period of colder than normal weather occurred during February 15-21. What will be remembered in February was the arctic outbreak of January 16-18. During that period, Saint Cloud spent more than 24 hours with a temperature below zero, including never rising above -10°F during the daylight hours on the 17th. Also, the strong west winds on both the 16th and 17th produced widespread wind chills in the minus 30s and minus 40s in central Minnesota. These wind chills resembled those of the coldest weather outbreaks in recent Saint Cloud history. High temperatures were only 4°F on the 17th and 7°F on the 18th with lows in the teens below zero both days. These were the coldest days of a week during which we had below normal temperatures for 7 straight days.

   However, the winds never really stopped blowing and Saint Cloud had a thin, old snow pack, so the actual temperature did not rival cold outbreaks, even the ones during our mild years. The high temperature never got to zero, so the winter of 2005-2006 has not had a sub-zero high. Since Saint Cloud has never had a March sub-zero high temperature, that means that the winter of 2005-2006 will be the 16th winter out of 125 on record without a sub-zero high temperature. It will also be the third winter of the past 5 during which the high temperature never reached zero. The normal number of days with a high of zero or colder is 4.3 days.

   The low temperature never got colder than -17°F on the 17th, meaning that Saint Cloud is working on the 11th winter without a -20°F low. Only 2001-2002 out of our current mild winter streak made it through the winter without temperatures hitting -20°F. It's not impossible to have a March -20°F low, but it hasn't been that cold since March 1965. The normal number of days with a -20°F low is about 5. Even during the mild winter of last year, January 2005 had a streak of 4 entire days during which the temperature stayed at zero or colder. This period of Jan. 14-17, 2005, also had four straight days with a low of -25 or colder,

  February 2006 did produce frequently cold low temperatures. Only 7 of the 28 days had a low temperature of 10°F or colder, compared to 15 in December and only 3 in January. There were 8 days with lows of zero or colder in February, nearly doubling the pre-February total of 9 days. Through the end of February, Saint Cloud has had only 17 days with a low of zero or colder, which would tie the winter of 1986-1987 for the 6th fewest days of sub-zero lows. An average March would produce about 2 days of sub-zero lows, so the winter of 2005-2006 has a good chance of being the 8th winter since 1997 that has amassed one of the 15 lowest totals of sub-zero days.

On the precipitation front, February was a snowless and dry month. There were 3.7 inches of snowfall in February, three inches below normal. The melted precipitation was 0.20 inch, .39 inch below normal. For the winter of 2005-2006, the total precipitation was 1.40 inches (29th driest of 108 years). The total snowfall for the 2005-2006 cold season through February 28 was 27.2 inches, 8.3 inches below normal. With the early morning snow on March 2, this relatively low snowfall year has now passed the total snowfall (27.2 inches) for the entire cold season of 2004-2005. Looking ahead, only 3 of the past 11 Marches have had below normal snowfall, but one of those brown years was last year when only an inch fell.