Minnesota Climatology Working Group

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Summaries and Publications

General Statistics, Normals, and Summaries |  Severe Weather |  Extremes/All-Time Records |  Temperature |  Precipitation
Extreme Rainfall Events |  Snow |  Wind |  Solar Radiation |  Soil Moisture and Soil Temperature |  Evaporation
Special Climate Summaries and Investigations |  Weather Observing and Equipment |  Minnesota Conservation Volunteer Magazine

General Statistics, Normals, and Summaries

• Twin Cities Climate Data Statistics
• Climate Normals and Other Statistics for Various Communities (National Climatic Data Center - Climatography of the United States No. 20)
• Climate Normals and Other Statistics for Various Communities (Midwestern Regional Climate Center)
• Climate Normals and Other Statistics for Various Communities (Western Regional Climate Center)
• Create Your Own Climate Calendar
• Historical Climate Data Summaries for Various Communities (High Plains Regional Climate Center)
• Normals, Means, and Extremes for Major Airport Weather Stations
  • Minneapolis/St. Paul
  • Duluth
  • Rochester
  • St. Cloud
  • International Falls
  • Fargo, ND
  • Sioux Falls, SD
  • La Crosse, WI
    The products offered above were extracted from 2005 editions of the NOAA publication Local Climatological Data - Annual Summary With Comparative Data. An example cover page from one of these documents is found here.
• Climate Averages and Extremes by Zip Code (The Weather Channel ©)
• Climate Summaries for Various Communities (USDA NRCS "WETS" data)
• Climate of Fargo, ND (National Weather Service Office, Grand Forks) (1.1 Mb)
• Comparative Climatic Data for Locations Around the United States (National Climatic Data Center)
• General Climate Description for Minnesota  (NCDC Climatography of the United States)

Severe Weather

• Minnesota Tornado History and Statistics
• National Weather Service Severe Weather Event Definitions/Thresholds for Warnings, Watches, Advisories (National Weather Service - Chanhassen)
• Climatology of Strong and Violent Tornadoes (National Severe Storms Laboratory)
• Total Annual Threat of Severe Thunderstorms and Strong Tornadoes (National Severe Storms Laboratory)
• Climatological Estimates of Local Daily Tornado Probability for the United States (National Severe Storms Laboratory)
• U.S. Tornado Environment Browser (Storm Prediction Center)
• State-by-State Lightning Death and Injury Statistics (National Severe Storms Laboratory)
• Facts About Derechos (Storm Prediction Center)

Extremes/All-Time Records

• Day-to-Day Records Look-up
• Minnesota and United States Climate Extremes
• Threaded Extremes
• United States Extreme Record Temperatures and Differences (Golden Gate Weather Services)
• All-Time Extremes by State (National Climatic Data Center)
• State-by-State Month-by-Month Temperature Extremes (National Climatic Data Center)
• Climate Averages and Extremes by Zip Code (The Weather Channel)

Temperature

• Last Spring/First Fall Freeze/Frost Dates and Plant Hardiness Zone Map
• Last Spring/First Fall Freeze/Frost Date Probabilities
• Spring Frost-Free Dates
• USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map
• Normal Temperature Maps
• Heat Index Climatology for the North-Central United States
  (National Wather Service Forecast Office, La Crosse, WI)
• Wind Chill Climatology for the North-Central United States
  (National Wather Service Forecast Office, La Crosse, WI)
• Probability of Occurrence in the Spring and Fall of Selected Low Temperatures
  (Climate of Minnesota Series - Part I, 1963) (4.9 Mb)
• The Agricultural and Minimum-Temperature-Free Seasons
  (Climate of Minnesota Series - Part II, 1963) (3.7 Mb)
• Calculated and Measured Air and Soil Freeze-Thaw Frequencies
  (Journal of Applied Meteorology, 1995) (646 Kb)
• Normal Temperatures (1951-1980) and Their Application
  (Climate of Minnesota Series - Part XV, 1985) (3.3 Mb)
• Frequency, Duration, Commencement Time and Intensity of Temperature Inversions at St. Paul-Minneapolis (835 Kb)
• Normal May - September Growing Degree Days

Relative Humidity/Dew Point Temperature

• 110 years of Twin Cities Summer Dew Point Temperature Records (1902-2012)

Precipitation

• Normal Precipitation Maps
• Precipitation Facts, Normals, and Extremes
  (Climate of Minnesota Series - Part V, 1967) (7.0 Mb)
• Areal Distribution and Probabilities of Precipitation in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area
  (Climate of Minnesota Series - Part VII, 1973) (3.3 Mb)
• Precipitation Patterns in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area and Surrounding Counties
  (Climate of Minnesota Series - Part VIII, 1975) (3.1 Mb)
• Precipitation Normals for Minnesota: 1941-1970
  (Climate of Minnesota Series - Part X, 1978) (3.2 Mb)
• Minnesota State-Averaged Annual Precipitation Trends: 1891-2010
• Hourly Precipitation Data Rainfall Event Statistics (National Climatic Data Center)

Extreme Rainfall Events

• NOAA Atlas 14 - Precipitation Frequency Estimates for Minnesota
• Historic Mega-Rain Events
• Minnesota Flash Floods 1970-2012
• United States Storm Studies: 1875-1973 (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) (9.6 Mb)
• "100 Year Storms" defined

Snow

• United States Snow Climatology (including record snowfalls) (National Climatic Data Center)
• MN/DOT Snow Climatology Project
• Duration and Depth of Snow Cover
  (Climate of Minnesota Series - Part XIII, 1982) (2.5 Mb)
• Normal Annual Snowfall Map 1951-1980
• Map of Mean Number of Days Per Year Where Snow Depth => 12 inches
• Probability of a White Christmas
• Famous Minnesota Winter Storms

Wind

• Wind Energy Information Resources (Minnesota Department of Commerce)
• Small Wind Electric Systems Brochure (Minnesota Department of Commerce)
• Wind Energy Resource Atlas of the United States (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)
• Wind Climatology and Wind Power
  (Climate of Minnesota Series - Part XIV, 1983) (2.5 Mb)
• Wind Roses for Minnesota and Surrounding Communities (Iowa State University)
• Wind Roses for Minnesota and Surrounding Communities (University of Minnesota)
• Wind Climatology Data for the U.S. (National Climatic Data Center)

Solar Radiation

• Solar Radiation at St.Paul
  (Climate of Minnesota Series - Part VI, 1971) (6.5 Mb)
• A Brief Climatology of Solar Radiation and Wind in Minnesota
  (Climate of Minnesota Series - Part IX, 1978) (10.0 Mb)
• The Availability and Dependability of Solar Radiation at St. Paul, Minnesota
  (Climate of Minnesota Series - Part XI, 1979) (3.4 Mb)
• Incoming and Reflected Solar Radiation at St. Paul
  (Climate of Minnesota Series - Part XVI, 1987) (4.4 Mb)

Soil Moisture and Soil Temperature

• Minnesota Ground Frost Study
  (Dan Pokorny - St. Cloud State, 1993)
• Average Date of Initial Soil Freeze
• Spring Soil Temperatures
  (Climate of Minnesota Series Part - IV, 1966) (2.7 Mb)
• The Hydrologic Cycle and Soil Water
  (Climate of Minnesota Series - Part XII, 1979) (9.5 Mb)

Evaporation

• The Hydrologic Cycle and Soil Water
  (Climate of Minnesota Series - Part XII, 1979) (9.5 Mb)
• St. Paul Campus Climate Observatory Monthly Pan Evaporation
• Waseca Southern Research and Outreach Center Monthly Pan Evaporation
• Standardization of Refererence Evapotranspiration (ASCE)
• Standardization of Refererence Evapotranspiration - Appendices (ASCE)

Special Climate Summaries and Investigations

• Minnesota State All-Hazard Mitigation Plan
• Minnesota Floods and Drought: From National Water Summary 1988-1989 (2.6 Mb)
• Minnesota Flash Floods 1970-2012
• Great Flood of 1993: Selections from the 1993 Water Year Data Summary
• Minnesota Climatic Conditions Leading to the Spring Flooding of 1997
• Drought of 1988 (2.0 Mb)
• Drought of 1930's (prepared by Thomas St. Martin)

• Climate's Impact Upon Water Availability in Minnesota
• Temporal Precipitation Patterns in the Red River Basin
• Minnesota's Precipitation Climate at the End of the 20th Century

• Minnesota State Weather Service History
  (prepared by Thomas St. Martin)
• This Day In Weather History

• Historical Lake Ice-Out Dates
• How Does Lake Ice Melt?
• Fall Color Map  (Minnesota Film Board)
• Typical Dates of Peak Color and the Causes of Fall Colors  (Minnesota DNR)

• Significant Minnesota Weather Events of the 20th Century
• Famous Minnesota Winter Storms
• The Winter of 1887-1888
  (prepared by Thomas St. Martin)
• Minnesota Ice Storm History (1.6 Mb)

• Daily Weather Maps From 1871 to Present
• Reconstruction of Daily 1820-1872 Minneapolis-St. Paul Temperature Observations (8.3 Mb)
  (prepared by Charles Fisk)

Weather Observing and Equipment

• History of the HIDEN Precipitation Network
• Minnesota Cooperative Station Homogenization Report (500 Kb)
• New Expanded-PVC Snowboard Test
• History of Duluth Weather Observations
• History of Fort Ridgely Weather Observations
• History of Fort Ripley Weather Observations
• History of Fort Snelling Weather Observations
• History of Minneapolis/St. Paul Weather Observations

Articles from the MInnesota DNR Conservation Volunteer Magazine

• Profile of Our Theatre of Seasons (Earl Kuehnast, 1973)
• Measuring Minnesota's Cold (Earl Kuehnast, 1982)
• How's the Weather? A Report from Our State Climatologist (Jim Zandlo, 1987)
• One Hundred Years of Weather Watching (Jim Zandlo, 1988)
• Stuff That Falls From the Sky (Stan Tekiela, 1996)
• The Crossroads of Climate Change (Kathleen Weflen, 2001)
• How Cold Was It? (Pete Boulay, 2001)
• Hey, How's the Weather? (Pete Boulay, 2003)
• Minnesota Cold (Greg Spoden, 2005)

Last modified: March 12, 2013