February 2019 and Winter 2018-2019 St. Cloud Weather Summary

Minnesota Suffers a Reverse Groundhog Winter

February 2019 and Winter 2018-2019 Saint Cloud, MN, Weather Summary

Note: This is a summary of meteorological winter, which is defined as the three coldest months of the year (1 December through 28 February). Astronomical winter ends on the spring equinox, which will be on March 20 this year. That's the day when we get back to 12 hours of daylight. Also, note that the cold season can be used to refer to the part of the year when Minnesota can get snow (typically Oct-Apr, but can be longer) or the heating season (July 1-June 30). No, the groundhog doesn't work in Minnesota.

Mild and Brown 1st Half, Cold and Snowy Second Half

It may be hard to believe at this point, but Minnesota has really suffered from about 6 weeks of winter from mid-January through the end of February. Before that, the first 6 weeks of the winter were relatively mild and snowless. December and the first half of January averaged 21.0 degrees, which would have ranked as the 8th mildest winter in St. Cloud records. There were only 15.1 inches of snowfall and no more than 4 inches of snow on the ground at any time. There was no snow in the Twin Cities and most of southern Minnesota. Minneapolis-St. Paul had its latest first sub-zero temperature of the season, holding off until January 19.

However, the switch got thrown for the last half of January and through all of February. The final 15 days of January plus February averaged 4.2 degrees, which would have tied 1884-1885 for the 4th coldest winter in St. Cloud records. There have been 33.7 inches of snow since January 21, more than 20 inches above the average of 12 inches. That includes a new record February snowfall of 27.6 inches, beating the old record of 21.6 inches, set in February 1971. In fact, this February was St. Cloud's 4th snowiest of any month on record. The only higher totals were 51.7 inches in March 1965, 36.0 inches in March 1917, and 28.1 inches in March 1951.

Including the snow of March 1, St. Cloud has picked up 52.7 inches for the cold season, 18.2 inches above average. That is more than 6 inches above the average for the entire snow season (46.1 inches). For the 3 winter months, St. Cloud had a total of 42.0 inches, the 10th snowiest winter in St. Cloud records.

St. Cloud didn't break any February snowfall records, but had 3 days with at least 5 inches of snow. This was the first February ever to have 3 days with at least 5 inches and only the third month in St. Cloud records (March 1965-3 days; March 2002-4 days) to have that many significant storms in a month. The 7 days with at least an inch also set a February record (6 days, set 7 times including in 2018).

Easily, the biggest storm of February was the snow and ground blizzard of February 22-24. This storm was the rare system that dropped its central pressure by more than 24 mb in 24 hours, qualifying as an "explosive cyclone" or a bomb. About 90% of those storms happen over the ocean so one over continent is rare. This system dumped heavy snow (9-13 inches) over south central and southeastern Minnesota. However, the strong winds that gusted over 50 MPH in many places took both that snow and the large amount of snow from previous storms (including the February 20 snowfall) to create whiteout conditions. Most roads in the southern half of Minnesota away from the Twin Cities were closed for at least a day. Other major snowfalls included a blizzard on February 6, a southern and northeastern Minnesota storm on February 10, and especially southeastern Minnesota on February 11-12.

The liquid precipitation in that snow totaled 1.95 inch in February, ranking 4th in February liquid equivalent precipitation. This is the highest February total since 1951.

The cold included St. Cloud's first two lows of -30 or colder since January 16, 2009, 41 days with a low of zero or colder,. and 4 days that remained below zero all day. There have been 7 days with a low of -20 or colder so far this winter, the most since 2013-2014. The end of January cold outbreak did drop temperatures to the -50s in northeastern Minnesota.

February in St. Cloud ended up with an average of 7.7 degrees, 9.3 degrees colder than average and the 19th coldest February on record. But, it will still be short by more than 2 degrees of the 10 coldest Februaries. The actual average winter (Dec 1- Feb 28) temperature was 12.5 degrees, 2.3 degrees colder than average.

The snow bonanza over the past 6 weeks has left a huge snowpack over Minnesota (see NWS NOHRSC snow depth map), which ranks in the heaviest 5 percent for this time of year. All of the state has at least 10 inches on the ground with much of the state having more than 20 inches. This has increased the risk for river flooding along the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers, southwestern Minnesota, and along the Red River when the snow melts later in the spring. Unless we begin to melt at a steady rate and soon, there is likely to be some flooding.

February 2019 Statistics

Winter (Dec 1-Feb 28) 2018-2019 Statistics