More Precipitation (7th most) and Snow Finishes Wet, White Meteorological Winter

February 2023 and Winter 2022-2023 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.

Wettest Winter in 101 Years, Snowiest Winter in 54 Years

While there were fewer days with wet and white conditions in February than either December or January, Minnesota made the most of its opportunities, posting another Top 10 wettest February (7th Wettest February in St. Cloud with 1.76 inches) and another very white period (14.0 inches in St. Cloud; 18th whitest). In St. Cloud, that has pushed the winter season (December 1-February 28) totals to 5.26 inches of total precipitation, finishing second only to 1921-1922, 5.34 inches). From November through February, St. Cloud ranks first with 7.37 inches, 0.46 inches ahead of 1896-1897, 6.91 inches. The average for the 4 driest months in 3.68 inches, so the precipitation is just about double the average amount.

This has greatly improved the moisture situation for area lakes and rivers. The US Drought Monitor (set the right graph to November 1) shows the most extreme drought conditions in the Minnesota River Valley and other parts of southern Minnesota has disappeared, although moderate drought conditions still exist in western Minnesota. That's because the surplus of 3-4 inches still doesn't quite balance some of the 8-12 inch shortfalls from the warm season. Also, it is uncertain how much of the precipitation will run off into lakes and rivers with the ground still frozen. Still, the frost depth isn't as great as in a usual winter, since the heavy snow began before the ground completely froze.

Much of Minnesota had a winter among the 3 wettest winters. St. Cloud has picked up 55.1 inches of snowfall (tied with 1920-1921 for snowiest winter). The 60.3 inches for the snow season so far (Oct-Feb) is the 3rd highest total, trailing only 1936-1937 (73.0 inches) and 1968-1969 (60.8 inches). It's also higher than the average snowfall for the entire cold season (47.9 inches).

Most of Precipitation Shoved into Two Buckets

Despite the high precipitation totals, January 28 through February 13 was the longest period of the winter without significant snowfall (only 0.2 inches fell) or major precipitation (0.16 inch precipitation). However, two major storms produced a lot of precipitation in a short period of time. The February 14-15 storm produced 0.80 inch, including a new February 14 daily record of 0.68 inch. Most of the precipitation was rain, since temperatures were in the upper 30's and even low 40's during a good chunk of the storm. During the week of February 20-24, there were a series of three snowstorms, producing 1.9 inches on February 20, 2.9 inches from February 21 into February 22, and 9.5 inches on February 23 and 24. If they weren't separate storms, the week total of 13.6 inches would have been the third snowstorm this winter to place among St. Cloud's 20 highest single storm snowfalls.

Close to a Top 10 Snowfall For Entire Cold Season

With another early March storm pushing the St. Cloud seasonal snowfall to 64.8 inches through March 3, the 2022-2023 seasonal snowfall is just 2.1 inches short of breaking the Top 10 Snowiest Entire Cold Season.

Impact: Above Average Chance for Snowmelt Flooding

All of the snow pack over Minnesota also means there is an above average chance for snowmelt flooding in central and southern Minnesota (from the Mississippi, St. Croix, and Minnesota Rivers) and in northeastern Minnesota for tributaries flowing both into Rainy Lake and Lake Superior. The flooding outlook for the Red River Valley and Devils Lake shows a chance for moderate or even major flooding, especially in the Fargo-Moorhead area.

Only Three Brief Cold Periods Interrupt Mostly Early Spring Temperatures

Temperature-wise, St. Cloud had part of 2 its three major arctic outbreaks of the winter. The month began with the continuation of a cold period that began on January 28. On February 3, the low was -18, tying the coldest of the season, set on January 30 and 31. Late in the month, a cold air mass pushed in, producing one day with a low in the minus teens. The rest of the month continued the late November or early March type of temperatures with highs commonly in the 20's and 30's with a couple of 40's, and lows in the single digits, teens, and a few in the 20's. The month of February ended up exactly the St. Cloud average February temperature of 16.1 degrees.

For the entire winter, December was colder than average, thanks to the week running up to Christmas, and January was much warmer than average. Overall, the season was marked with three outbreaks of arctic air with only the first one pushing wind chills into the -30s and -40s.

Three winter outbreaks of arctic air:

1. Dec 18-25: 3 straight highs of zero or colder; 9 straight lows of zero or colder (coldest: -13)
2. Jan 28-Feb 3: 1 high of zero or colder; 8 straight lows of zero or colder (coldest: -18 on Jan 30, 31, Feb 3)
3. Feb 24: one high in the plus single digits; 4 straight lows of zero or colder (coldest: -15 on Feb 24)

St. Cloud's average winter (December 1-February 28) temperature was 16.1 degrees, 1.3 degrees milder than average. Note that this was in contrast to some well-publicized winter forecasts that had a colder than average winter in the Plains, but equal chances of above and below average precipitation. That forecast also said that the chances of drought relief from the Mississippi River westward was unlikely. While the severe drought in the Intermountain West has not disappeared, there has been important rain and snow, eliminating a lot of the darkest red from Utah, Nevada, Oregon, and California (see US Drought Monitor (set the right graph to November 1). Still, this is a multiyear drought and these areas need to do most of the catching up now, since they tend to be the driest in the warm season.

February 2023 Statistics

Winter (Dec 1-Feb 28) 2022-2023 Statistics