June 2016 Saint Cloud Weather Summary

Grass Browning As Temperatures Heat Up

June 2016 Saint Cloud Weather Summary

St. Cloud ended on the warm side of an alternatingly cool and warm June 2016. According to the final statistics from the St. Cloud Regional Airport, the June average temperature was 67.3°F, 1.7°F warmer than average. That was warm, but not quite as warm as in 2012 or 2014. While June 2016 began on the cool side with the coolest high of the month (65 on the 1st) and the coolest low (44 on the 7th) both in the first week of the month, some summertime heat and certainly humidity leaked into central Minnesota in the middle of the month. Several of the humid days had a lot of clouds and/or rainfall, but there were clear enough to skies to register the first 2 days with a high of 90 or warmer. The 93-degree high (103 degree heat index) on June 25 was hotter than any high since July 21, 2014. In fact, highs even in the middle 90's have been relatively rare in the past 10 years. Since 2007, St. Cloud has had only one day with a high warmer than 96 degrees: June 7, 2011 when the high was 101 degrees.

During the average summer, St. Cloud has 11 days with a high of 90 or warmer. The 90-degree days have been either boom or bust since 2004. Five of the past 12 summers have had 4 or fewer 90 degree days (2 each of the past two summers), while the other 7 summers have had at least 11 days. Both 2006 and 2007 had 20 days with hot 90-degree highs. While summers have generally been warmer than average in the past 20 years, only one summer since 1988, which was the 5th hottest summer in St. Cloud records, only 2011 has approached one of the 10 warmest, finishing 11th.

June in St. Cloud itself continued the trend of relatively dry conditions. The June rainfall totaled 3.37 inches at the St. Cloud Airport, 0.80 inch below average. The warmer conditions first allowed plants to really start growing at the start of the month, but by the end of the month, there were some brown spots on lawns.

However, there were again frequent chances for rain over central Minnesota. St. Cloud had measurable rainfall on 14 of the 30 June days. Frequent, but small precipitation has been a hallmark of 2016 so far. St. Cloud has had 65 days with measurable rainfall so far this year, more than two-thirds of the average number for the entire year. This is tied for the 9th most Jan-June days with measurable precipitation. The highest total was 78 days in 1979. However, St. Cloud is that 0.80 inch behind for June, 2.01 inches behind since the beginning of April (7.28 inches actual, 9.29 inches average), and 2.74 inches behind for the calendar year (9.72 inches actual, 12.46 inches average).

On the other hand, there has been much more rainfall nearby. In June, the Milaca and Princeton areas, plus Lake Mille Lacs had less than 3 inches of rain (yellow), but central Stearns and Kandiyohi Counties had 4-6 inches of rain. Most of central Minnesota has been at least a little short on rain during the growing season (April 1 through June 30), but Benton, Mille Lacs, and southeastern Morrison Counties have been at least 30% behind on rainfall so far. As an example of this, Paynesville Airport (4.24 inches) caught a piece of torrential rainfall on June 13, but St. Cloud got less than half an inch of rain that day. Only on June 14 did the St. Cloud Airport get at least an inch of rain, for the first time this year. On the 14th, there were severe storms and even tornadoes in west central and southern Minnesota and 4-5 inches of rain in south central Minnesota, but central Minnesota missed the severe weather as well.

On June 19, there were surges of storms with straight-line wind damage, catching several people camping by in the Brainerd Lakes and in the Boundary Waters. These storms did not reach the St. Cloud area.

     June 2016 Statistics