Weather

January 2024 Saint Cloud, MN Weather Summary

 

 

 

Blame It On El Nino

January 2024 St. Cloud Weather Summary

Mildest December-January in St. Cloud Records; Least Snowy Season Since 1905

The balmy weather continued over Minnesota in January. The average January temperature at the Saint Cloud Regional Airport was 19.4 degrees, 7.6 degrees above average. That just missed by 0.2 degree the 10 mildest Januaries. The reason for the near miss was an outbreak of arctic air from the afternoon of the 11th through the morning of the 21st (see NWS January 2024 St. Cloud high-low temperature graph). St. Cloud recorded 2 full days without the temperature breaking zero and 9 days with a sub-zero low. Each were the first such readings this season. That cold broke a streak of 43 straight days of above average temperatures from November 29 through December to January 10. briefly knocked the average temperature to within half a degree of average. However, the remainder of the month was even milder than the start. Fog plagued the mild period from January 23-27, but the month finished with sunny days, similar to what we had in the first half of December. Eight record mild temperatures were set from January 25 through 31, ending with the 55 degree high on January 31, only one degree short of the warmest January high temperature of all time, 56 on January 24, 1981.

The combination of December and January was easily the mildest Dec-Jan in St. Cloud records by more than 2 degrees. The previous record for a mild two-thirds of winter was 1913-1914. And, since November, the three month average of 28.9 degrees is St. Cloud's 3rd mildest, falling just 0.1 degree short of 2001-2002. Note how frequently the years since 1997 show up in these records, a sign of the recent trend of several mild years reflecting the predicted temperature trend in a globally warmed earth (milder especially in northern interiors of continents and especially during the cold season).

And, the current pattern, featuring a strong Rockies high pressure area (see clockwise circulation nosing well into Alberta and Saskatchewan on the Mid-tropospheric water vapor loop from Colorado State satellite slider), will keep what little arctic air there is in central and northern Alaska (see 3 PM Wednesday NWS WPC North America zoom-in map).

So, the coldest temperature seen so far this winter in St. Cloud was -13 on January 20. Even in mild winters, there has only been one cold season where the coldest temperature wasn't at least -16 degrees. Since there is arctic air in North America in Alaska, near Labrador, and over Greenland, which is cold even for those brutal areas (see blue colors on the Alicia Bentley 850 mb GFS map from 6 PM last night, another arctic interlude is possible before the end of the winter. More days are likely to stay mild, based on the current pattern that will last well into next week and the presence of El Nino, which favors milder than average winters in the Northern Plains.

Unlike December (wettest December in St. Cloud records), the dry pattern resumed in January. Only 0.20 inches fell in January 2024, 0.47 inch below average. That precipitation only contained 3.4 inches of snow, 5.4 inches below average. This ranked as the 25th lowest January snowfall in St. Cloud records.

That means the total snowfall in St. Cloud between October 30 (yes, that was the first snow of the season) and the end of January was 9.1 inches, well below the average of 26.0 inches. That's the lowest seasonal snowfall total through January in reliable St. Cloud records, which go back to 1905. The previous low was 9.3 inches, set in 1923-1924.

Meanwhile, the southern half of Minnesota has seen less snow so far than nearly all of Kansas and Iowa, much of Nebraska and Wisconsin, and northern Missouri and northern Illinois (see NWS NOHRSC tototal snow accumulation through January, set to seasonal accumulation). Even eastern Tennessee, northwestern Arkansas, northern Oklahoma, and the Texas Panhandle are ahead of us in snowfall. And, there have been only 21 consecutive days with a snow cover in St. Cloud (January 5-25) and 30 total days with at least an inch on the ground. The longest streak typically lasts nearly 3 months. The fewest days with at least an inch on the ground was 19 days during 1958-1959. The shortest consecutive day streak was 6 days in 1960-1961. With no snow on the ground during the start of February, it will be hard to make even a monthlong streak from February into March.

What happened the rest of the winter in the previous years that had lowest seasonal snowfall total through January? Note that all of the seasons with low snow through January ended up with a below average snowfall year (47.9 inches is the average), three of the seasons got more than 20 inches of snow in the rest of the cold season, ending up in the middle 30's in seasonal snowfall. We know we are in an El Nino year, which greatly favors continued mild conditions through February. However, the split storm track that has moved weather systems well to our south in the Central US can sometimes work together. That gave Minnesota its record wet December. Yes, most of that December precipitation fell as rain, but there was heavy snow in the Dakotas, so snow is still possible.

Note that the heavy rainfall in December (more than an inch above the average precipitation for all 3 winter months, 2.31 inches) allowed for a well above average moisture during winter. Usually, the water source is melted snow. While that runs mostly into lakes and rivers, the warm conditions this year allowed most of that moisture to penetrate the soil, offsetting more of this past spring and summer's dryness.

 

 

Summing Up Cold Season So Far

I put this table in last January's summary, documenting our way to the snowiest season in St. Cloud records. It is here just to compare an extreme snow season last year to an extreme lack of snow and mild season this year:

October-January St. Cloud Cold Season Scoreboard
  So Far In 2022-2023 So Far This Season Average for Entire Season
Snowfall      
Total Snowfall 46.3 inches (5th most total through January) 9.1 inches (lowest total through January) 47.9 inches
Days with Measurable Snowfall 27 days 13 days (2 Oct,1 Nov,5 Dec, 5 Jan) 31.8 days
Days with 2 inches or more 8 days 1 day (Oct 30) 7.6 days
Consecutive days with 1 inch on the ground

59 days

(Dec 8-Jan 31)

21 days

(Jan 5-Jan 25)

86 days
Temperature      
Nov-Jan average 21.6 degrees 28.9 degrees (second warmest) 20.2 degrees
Highs of zero or colder 4 days 2 days 4.3 days
Lows of zero or colder 21 days 9 days 42.7 days
Lows of -20 or colder 0 days 0 days 5.4 days
Precipitation      
November-January

5.61 inches

(3rd highest in St. Cloud records)

3.63 inches

 

2.92 inches

 

 

 

January 2024 Statistics

Temperatures (°F)
January 2024
Normal
January Average High Temperature (°F)
25.2
20.7
January Average Low Temperature (°F)
13.5
2.9
Mean Temperature for January (°F)
19.4
11.8
   

January Extremes

Temperature(°F)
Date
Warmest High Temperature for January 2024 (°F)
55 (broke record; see below)
January 31
Coldest High Temperature for January 2024 (°F)
0
January 14,15
Warmest Low Temperature for January 2024 (°F)

34 (set record; see below)

January 25,26
Coldest Low Temperature for January 2024 (°F)
-13 (coldest of the season so far)
January 20
Record Temperatures in January 2024
Temperature(°F)
Date
Old Record
Daily Record Warm High Temperature
44 (tie)
January 30
record set in 1931
 
55
January 31
46 in 1993
Daily Record Warm Low Temperature
34
January 25
32 in 1944
 
34
January 26
32 in 1911
 
31
January 30
30 in 1942
Daily Record Warm Average Temperature
38
January 29
37 in 1931
 
38
January 30
36 in 1992
 
42
January 31
32 in 1968
Temperature Thresholds
Number of Days
Normal
January 2024 Days with High Temperatures <= 32°F
22
23.5
Cold-Season 2023-2024 Days with High Temperatures <= 32°F
32
56.7
January 2024 Days with High Temperatures <= 0°F
2
2.6
Cold-Season 2023-2024 Days with High Temperatures <= 0°F
2
4.3
January 2024 Days with Low Temperatures <= 32°F
28
30.9
Cold-Season 2023-2024 Days with Low Temperatures <= 32°F
80
99.7
January 2024 Days with Low Temperatures <= 0°F
9
15.9
Cold-Season 2023-2024 Days with Low Temperatures <= 0°F
9
42.7 (annual)
January 2024 Days with Low Temperatures <= -20°F
0
2.9
Cold-Season 2023-2024 Days with Low Temperatures <= -20°F
0
5.4 (annual)
     
Precipitation (in)
January 2024
Normal
January 2024 Precipitation (in)
0.20
0.67
  Top 10 Wettest Januaries
Precipitation Thresholds
Number of Days
Normal
January 2024 Days with Measurable (>= 0.01 inch) Precipitation
4
7.1
January 2024 Days with >= 0.10 inch Precipitation
1
2.4
January 2024 Days with >= 0.25 inch Precipitation
0
0.8
January 2024 Days with >= 0.50 inch Precipitation
0
0.2
January 2024 Days with >= 1.00 inch Precipitation
0
0.0
January Extremes
Precipitation (in)
Date
Most Daily Precipitation in January 2024
0.11 inch
January 8
Record Precipitation in January 2024
Precipitation (in)
Date
Old Record
No Precipitation Records Set
Snowfall (in)
January 2023
Normal
January 2024 Saint Cloud Snowfall (in)
3.4 (10th snowiest)
8.8
2023-2024 Seasonal Saint Cloud Snowfall (1 Oct 2023 - 31 Jan 2024)
26.0
Snowfall Thresholds
Number of Days
Normal
January 2024 Days with Measurable (>= 0.1 inch) Snowfall
5
8.7
Cold-Season 2023-2024 Days with Measurable Snowfall
13
23.7
January 2024 Days with >= 1.0 inch Snowfall
1
3.7
Cold-Season 2023-2024 Days with >= 1.0 inch Snowfall
9
9.5
January 2023 Days with >= 2.0 inch Snowfall
0
1.7
Cold-Season 2022-2023 Days with >= 2.0 inch Snowfall
1
3.2
January 2023 Days with >= 5.0 inch Snowfall
0
0.3
Cold-Season 2022-2023 Days with >= 5.0 inch Snowfall
0
0.8
January Extremes
Snowfall (in)
Date
Most Daily Snowfall in January 2024
1.8 inches
January 8
Record Snowfall in January 2024
Snowfall (in)
Date
Old Record
No Records Set      

 

10 Brownest Januaries

 

 

December-January Average St. Cloud Temperature (°F)
December-January November-January
Rank Season Avg Temperature Rank Season Avg Temperature
1 2023-2024 25.8 1 2001-2002 29.0
2 1913-1914 23.7 2 2023-2024 28.9
3 2011-2012 22.7 3 1913-1914 28.7
4 2001-2002 22.6 4 1918-1919 26.8
5 1918-1919 22.5 5 2011-2012 26.5
6 (tie) 1943-1944 21.8 6 2015-2016 26.2
6 (tie) 2005-2006 21.8 7 1899-1900 25.9
8 (tie) 1881-1882 21.7 8 (tie) 1890-1891 25.8
8 (tie) 1920-1921 21.7 8 (tie) 2020-2021 25.8
10 1890-1891 21.6 10 2005-2006 25.6

 

 

Lowest St. Cloud Snowfall Through Jan (since 1905)
Rank Season Inches Final Seasonal Total
1 2023-2024 9.1 ????
2 1923-1924 9.3 23.4
3 1920-1921 10.5 10.7 (lowest)
4 1960-1961 11.6 25.9
5 1941-1942 11.9 26.6
6 1963-1964 12.1 34.2
7 (tie) 1907-1908 12.8 35.0
7 (tie) 1958-1959 12.8 14.1 (2nd lowest)
9 1962-1963 14.2 33.2
10 1912-1913 14.4 22.9 (10th lowest)

 

 

 

Posted February 1, 2024

 

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