Weather

January 2010 Saint Cloud Weather Summary



Roller Coaster Weather Pattern Has More January Bumps

  The roller coaster weather pattern which has affected St. Cloud since last summer continued in January 2010 with three major shifts in the weather. The average January temperature ended up being 9.7°F, 0.9°F above normal, but it was the average of three extreme periods.

Frigid First 10 Days

The first 10 days of January were extraordinarily cold and dry (average temperature of -3.1°F, 11.7°F colder than normal). The only sub-zero high of the winter so far was recorded on January 2 along with the only two lows colder than -20°F. In comparison, last year had 12 days colder than -20 (two colder than -30) by the end of January.

Mid-January Thaw With Heavy Rain, Not Snow

Then, January 11-25 featured warm weather (average temperature of 20.5°F, 12.2°F warmer than normal). Eight days had highs in the 30's with 3 above freezing highs. Towards the end of this January thaw, there was a storm on January 21-25 which accounted for all of the precipitation during the entire month. Before this storm, there had been no precipitation since the Christmas week storm that ended on December 27. This storm produced 0.72 inch of melted precipitation, the total for the entire month of January and within 0.04 inch of normal. The heaviest precipitation of this storm set a new daily record for January 23 precipitation with 0.50 inches falling. About a quarter inch of the precipitation fell in the form of freezing rain in St. Cloud with up to half an inch of freezing rain in northern Benton County. However, only 0.9 inch of the precipitation fell as snow. That was the only snowfall of the month, placing January 2010 as the 5th lowest January snowfall and the least snow since since 1990. The late January storm produced over a foot of snow in the Arrowhead, a period of 4-6 inches of snow followed by high winds that closed roads in southern and southwestern Minnesota.

Not Quite Back to the Arctic Last Week

On the backside of the late January storm, colder air moved in (average temperature of 2.1°F, 8.1°F colder than normal), producing 6 low temperatures of zero or colder, but wasn't as cold as the start of the month.

Last Four Months Each in 10 Most Extreme Snowfalls, But on Opposite Sides

The snowfall pattern since the late fall has been proof of this odd period of weather since the late summer. October ended up tying for the 10th snowiest October with 2.5 inches, then November was one of only 13 Novembers with no measurable snowfall in St. Cloud. December produced 18.2 inches, the 7th snowiest December on record, and now we have the 5th least snowy January.

Even though it's Groundhog Day, the snowfall pattern continued that seen in the past two winters. There was a lot of December snow in both years, but total snowfall dropped below normal during a relatively snowless January. However, the past two winters as well as the winter of 2006-2007 all had heavy snowfall from late February through April (27.1 inches out of 31.8 total inches in 2006-2007; 36.0 inches out of the 52.2 inches total in 2007-2008; 22.8 inches out of 53.9 total inches in 2008-2009). At this point, the St. Cloud seasonal snowfall is 21.6 inches, 7.2 inches below normal, but we'll see if we catch up.

Large Snowpack Shows Potential for Spring Red River Floods

The deep snow cover leftover from December, as seen on the NWS NOHRSC Upper Midwest snow depth chart, could cause another spring of problems along the Red River. The early outlook for the spring snowmelt again from the National Weather Service's North Center River Forecast Center shows a high probability of moderate flooding along the Red River, but everything depends on the rate of snowmelt beginning next month

 

    January 2009 Statistics

Temperatures (°F)
January 2010
Normal
January Average High Temperature (°F)
18.3
18.6
January Average Low Temperature (°F)
1.1
-1.2
Mean Temperature for January (°F)
0.9
8.7
  10 Coldest Januaries in Saint Cloud

January Extremes

Temperature(°F)
Date
Warmest High Temperature for January 2010 (°F)
37
January 17
Coldest High Temperature for January 2010 (°F)
-3
January 2
Warmest Low Temperature for January 2010 (°F)

32

January 23
Coldest Low Temperature for January 2010 (°F)
-27
January 3
Record Temperatures in January 2010
Temperature(°F)
Date
Old Record
No Record Temperatures Set
Temperature Thresholds
Number of Days
Normal
January 2010 Days with High Temperatures <= 32°F
28
23.5
January 2010 Days with High Temperatures <= 0°F
1
2.6
Cold-Season 2009-2010 Days with High Temperatures <= 0°F
1
4.3
January 2010 Days with High Temperatures <= -10°F
0
0.5
January 2010 Days with Low Temperatures <= 32°F
31
30.9
January 2010 Days with Low Temperatures <= 0°F
17
15.9
Cold-Season 2009-2010 Days with Low Temperatures <= 0°F
26
42.7
January 2010 Days with Low Temperatures <= -20°F
2
2.9
Cold-Season 2009-2010 Days with Low Temperatures <= -20°F
2
5.4
January 2010 Days with Low Temperatures <= -30°F
0
0.4
Precipitation (in)
January 2009
Normal
January 2010 Precipitation (in)
0.72
0.76
  Top 10 Driest Januaries
Precipitation Thresholds
Number of Days
Normal
January 2009 Days with Measurable (>= 0.01 inch) Precipitation
4
7.1
January 2009 Days with >= 0.10 inch Precipitation
2
2.4
January 2009 Days with >= 0.25 inch Precipitation
1
0.8
January 2009 Days with >= 0.50 inch Precipitation
1
0.2
January 2009 Days with >= 1.00 inch Precipitation
0
0.0
January Extremes
Precipitation (in)
Date
Most Daily Precipitation in January 2009
0.50 inch (set record; see below)
January 23
Record Precipitation in January 2009
Precipitation (in)
Date
Old Record
Daily Record Precipitation
0.50 inch January 24 0.27 inch in 1949
Snowfall (in)
January 2009
Normal
January 2010 Saint Cloud Reformatory Snowfall (in)
0.9#
10.5
December 26, 2009-January 22, 2010 Snowfall
Trace
17.8
2009-2010 Seasonal Saint Cloud Reformatory Snowfall (1 Oct 2009 - 31 Jan 2010)
21.6
28.8
Snowfall Thresholds
Number of Days
Normal
January 2010 Days with Measurable (>= 0.1 inch) Snowfall
3
8.7
January 2010 Days with >= 1.0 inch Snowfall
0
3.7
January 2010 Days with >= 2.0 inch Snowfall
0
1.7
January 2010 Days with >= 5.0 inch Snowfall
0
0.3
January Extremes
Snowfall (in)
Date
Most Daily Snowfall in January 2010
0.7
January 25
Record Snowfall in January 2009
Snowfall (in)
Date
Old Record
No Snowfall Records Set

#5th lowest January snowfall total

10 Brownest Januaries

Historic temperature data provided courtesy of the Saint Cloud National Weather Service Office, and NOAA/NWS
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Send comments to: raweisman@stcloudstate.edu