March 2016 Saint Cloud Weather Summary

Saint Cloud Weather Summary for March 2016

Winter? Not Much

Third Warmest March, Second Warmest Nov-Mar in St. Cloud Records

The calendar continues to advance, but what little winter St. Cloud and Minnesota have seen continue to be mostly absent. The March 2016 average temperature ended being 38.3°F, 8.9°F warmer than average. That made March 2016 the 3rd warmest March in St. Cloud records. The only Marches that were mikler were still much warmer: 1910 (avg: 43.0°F) and 2012 (avg. 43.9°F). However, you can see from this records table why March 2012 was warmer. Note the period between March 14 and March 23 with 5 record warm highs (all in the 70's) and 7 record warm lows, all of at least 50 degrees.

This March produced seven daily warm temperature records, including highs well into the 60's on March 8, 11, and 12. There were 11 straight days with average temperatures at least 10 degrees above average (at least 20 degrees above normal on 5 of those days). However, the second two weeks of the month were dominated by temperatures that were closer to average. When they were above average, it was usually due to cloudy nights, producing warmer weather. Then, the last 4 days of the month produced yet another warm-up.

March 2016 marks the 7th straight month with above average temperatures. There have now been seven straight months with an average temperature at least 2 degrees warmer than average. Five of those months have been at least 5 degrees warmer than average. Over the whole November through March period, St. Cloud temperatures were 27.8°F, the second warmest November-March temperature in St. Cloud records, behind only 2011-2012.

Over this period, St. Cloud has also had its

• Third warmest fall (Sept-Nov)
  • Fourth warmest September
  • 6th warmest November
• Eighth warmest winter (Dec-Feb)
  • 6th warmest December
• and now the 3rd warmest March

Several summary statistics for the cold season are nearly at the warm extreme. There have been only 14 days with a low of zero or colder. That's the 3rd fewest in St. Cloud records. The average is 43 days. There were only two days with a high of zero or colder, but the record is zero. The average is 4 days for the winter.

The temperature did not reach -20 at any time during the winter, only the 8th winter when that happened. The coldest low this season was -18, tied for the 5th warmest extreme low of a winter. On the average, St. Cloud has 5 days with a low of -20 or colder, but most of them have come in winters with extremely cold periods, like 2008-2009 and 2013-2014 recently.

Only three inches of snow fell during March 2016, close to a third of the average March snowfall of 8.2 inches. The seasonal snowfall total through April 5 is 29.1 inches, 14.4 inches less than average. There were only 4 days with measurable snowfall in March. For the season, St. Cloud has had frequent snowfall with 30 days in the season (average is 32 days), but only 10 of those days produced at least an inch of snow.

There have been only 69 days with at least an inch of snow on the ground. The average is 101 days. However, St. Cloud missed a narrow heavy snowfall during March 23-24. The start of the snowfall was right over the Twin Cities with the northern suburbs getting nearly nothing and the southern suburbs of Eagan, Apple Valley, and Savage seeing generally 8-12 inches of snow.

However, there was nearly average precipitation during March 2016. A total of 1.50 inch fell, within 0.05 inch of average. This came mainly at the end of the month as a strong storm dumped 0.93 inches between the 25th and the 31st.

Since the start of April, temperatures have cooled considerably, thanks to a flow of air from northern Canada. However, without much snow cover over the US, that cold air is merely a bit colder than average. Some of the storms have dropped some cold instability showers and a few snowflakes, but there has been little more than a coating over central MN.

The very warm temperatures during the first half of the month led to r ecord early ice out for many lakes in southern Minnesota into the Twin Cities. The smaller lakes continued to thaw during the second half of the month, but at a slower pace since several days had lows near or below freezing. The larger lakes were lagging with Lake Mille Lacs reporting ice out on April 5, 10 days later than the earliest thaw (March 26 in 2012, of course).

This also allowed maple sap to begin its run well after the thaw in early March.

All of this warmth has been consistent with the temperature trends seen nationally and globally. Global temperatures were at record warm levels in 2015. Nationally, March 2016 temperatures were the third warmest in on record with Minnesota having its 4th warmest March on record.