June 2006 Saint Cloud Weather Summary

Saint Cloud Weather Summary for June 2006

While the thermometer keeps alternating between spring and summer weather, Saint Cloud has now consistently experienced dry weather for the past month and a half. June 2006 rainfall at the Saint Cloud Regional Airport totalled 2.55 inches, nearly two full inches below the normal June rainfall of 4.51 inches. This continues the trend seen since the middle of May. Between May 15 and June 30, the Saint Cloud Regional Airport has received only 2.80 inches of rain, more than three and a half inches less than the normal amount of 6.35 inches.

The Minnesota State Climatology office's weekly rainfall report includes the heavy rainfall seen in April and early May, so it shows the Saint Cloud area with near normal rainfall for the growing season (April 1 - June 26). Also, the rainfall has been produced by mainly localized thunderstorms for the past three months, so conditions are drastically different in the Twin Cities area, which received 1-4 inches of rain on June 16. However, the dryness of this late spring and early summer is beginning to get serious. According to Mark Seeley's Minnesota WeatherTalk, parts of western and northern Minnesota, including the areas of Red Lake Falls, Moorhead, Hibbing, Alexandria, and Willmar have only received about half of the normal rainfall since May 1. With the completion of June, you can now add Saint Cloud to that list. The near-surface soil moisture is still high, so we're seeing most of the stress on plants with shallow roots like grass, but other plants, including crops that are still small, are beginning to show stress. Some heavier rain will be necessary to relieve the stress.

Unfortunately, the overnight rainfall on June 30-July 1 missed Saint Cloud and points south, while producing only about a quarter inch of rain in Alexandria. We will need a lot more of that to ease this dry spell.

The dry spell has been reinforced by the overall weather pattern of the past two weeks. A large blocking high has set up over the western US, producing consistent 90s and 100s for highs through the western third of the country. On the other hand, we have been stuck on the east side of that blocking high. Since the winds circulate around highs in a clockwise direction, that has kept Minnesota's weather coming from the northwest, or central Canada, so it's been tough for recent storms to tap enough moisture to produce anything more than spotty thunderstorms. The northwest flow has also kept the deep tropical moisture from getting involved in weather systems until they get into the Ohio Valley. This pattern has led to persistent flooding rains in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States, but keeps us high and dry.

While the lack of rainfall has been consistent this month, the average temperatures in Saint Cloud continue to be on the roller coaster ride that began in April (very warm in April, cool in most of May, then near record heat in late May). The difference in June is that we were on the second half of the ride (lots of ups and downs, but smaller hills). The overall June 2006 Saint Cloud average temperature was 67.4 degrees, 2.3 degrees above normal.

The first week of June continued the very warm weather from Memorial Day weekend. Then, a slow-moving storm produced lots of clouds during June 9-12 and some very cool temperatures. In fact, the high temperature on June 10th was only 57 degrees, setting a new record cold low for the date. In mid-June, we had another brief hot spell, including a 90-degree high and nearly another 70-degree low. Then, the drier and near normal weather took hold for most of the second half of the month, except for the return of the 90-degree heat on June 30.

Will we end up with significant dry spell relief in early July? The weather pattern through the middle of next week looks to be nearly the same as what we've seen in recent days: the blocking high and the heat staying in the West, storminess in the Northeast, and the Northern Plains continuing with the steering winds from the northwest, continuously bringing dry weather to our area. We could see some of the West's heat by the middle of next week, but that has been forecast before in the 3-7 day forecast and has not really happened. So, I remain skeptical.

    June 2006 Statistics