July, 1997 Preliminary Local Climatological Data St. Cloud, MN National Weather Service |-Temperature-|--------Degree Days---------|-Precipitation-|-Snowfall-|----Wind----| (degrees F) (base 65 degrees F) (inches) (inches) (mph, deg) Heating Cooling Max Min Avg Dep HDD Seas Dep CDD Seas Dep Tot Tot Norm Tot Tot Avg Pk Dir from for for for for for Spd Gust at Norm Seas Seas Mon Mon Seas Pk Date | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 87 64 76 7 0 0 -1 11 124 13 1.25 1.25 0.13 M M M M M 2 70 57 64 -5 1 1 -1 0 124 8 0.02 1.27 0.25 M M M M M 3 64 53 59 -13 6 6 6 0 177 -24 0.11 3.06 0.37 M M 12.7 M M 4 74 50 62 -7 3 13 9 0 124 -2 0.04 1.40 0.49 M M M M M 5 74 49 62 -7 3 16 11 0 124 -7 T 1.40 0.60 M M M M M 6 67 45 56 -14 9 25 19 0 124 -13 0 1.40 0.71 M M M M M 7 62 43 53 -17 12 37 30 0 124 -19 1.03 2.43 0.82 M M M M M 8 65 54 60 -10 5 42 34 0 124 -25 0 2.43 0.92 M M M M M 9 74 48 61 -9 4 46 37 0 124 -31 0 2.43 1.02 M M M M M 10 78 54 66 -4 0 46 36 1 125 -36 0 2.43 1.12 M M M M M 11 85 64 75 5 0 46 35 10 135 -32 0 2.43 1.22 M M M M M 12 85 71 78 8 0 46 34 13 148 -25 0.03 2.46 1.32 M M M M M 13 89 68 79 9 0 46 33 14 162 -17 0.16 2.62 1.42 M M M M M 14 80 63 72 2 0 46 32 7 169 -16 0.01 2.63 1.51 M M M M M 15 90 62 76 6 0 46 31 11 180 -11 0 2.63 1.60 M M M M M 16 91 68 80 10 0 46 30 15 195 -2 0 2.63 1.69 M M M M M 17 91 66 79 9 0 46 29 14 209 6 0.01 2.64 1.78 M M M M M 18 84 65 75 5 0 46 28 10 219 10 T 2.64 1.87 M M M M M 19 73 65 69 -1 0 46 27 4 223 8 1.98 4.62 1.96 M M M M M 20 82 65 74 4 0 46 26 9 232 11 0.14 4.76 2.05 M M M M M 21 75 61 68 -2 0 46 25 3 235 8 T 4.76 2.14 M M M M M 22 66 59 63 -7 2 48 26 0 235 2 0.61 5.37 2.23 M M M M M 23 77 63 70 0 0 48 25 5 240 1 0.02 5.39 2.32 M M M M M 24 76 64 70 -1 0 48 25 5 245 0 T 5.39 2.41 M M M M M 25 85 69 77 6 0 48 25 12 257 6 1.50 6.89 2.50 M M M M M 26 88 68 78 7 0 48 25 13 270 13 0 6.89 2.60 M M M M M 27 84 66 75 4 0 48 25 10 280 17 0 6.89 2.70 M M M M M 28 78 58 68 -3 0 48 25 3 283 14 0 6.89 2.80 M M M M M 29 78 54 66 -5 0 48 25 1 284 9 0 6.89 2.90 M M M M M 30 79 53 66 -5 0 48 25 1 285 4 0 6.89 3.00 M M M M M 31 73 53 63 -8 2 50 27 0 285 -2 T 6.89 3.11 M M M M M ST CLOUD MONTHLY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR JULY 1997 ...PRELIMINARY REPORT... ...TEMPERATURE... ...NUMBER OF DAYS... AVERAGE MONTHLY........ 68.7 MAXIMUM 32 DEG OR BELOW... 0 DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL.. -1.4 MAXIMUM 90 DEG OR ABOVE... 1 AVERAGE MONTHLY MAX.... 78.1 MINIMUM 32 DEG OR BELOW... 0 AVERAGE MONTHLY MIN.... 59.3 MINIMUM 0 DEG OR BELOW... 0 HIGHEST DAILY..... 91 ON JULY 16 AND 17 LOWEST DAILY...... 43 ON JULY 7 ...DEGREE DAYS... HEATING COOLING TOTAL FOR THE MONTH.... 50 172 DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL.. +27 - 9 TOTAL FOR THE SEASON... 50 285 DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL.. +27 -130 ...PRECIPITATION... ...INCHES... ...NUMBER OF DAYS... TOTAL FOR THE MONTH..... 6.89 MEASURABLE PRECIP.... 14 DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL...+3.78 0.10 INCH OR MORE.... 7 TOTAL FOR THE YEAR......14.56 0.50 INCH OR MORE.... 5 DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL...-1.44 1.00 INCH OR MORE.... 4 GREATEST IN 24 HOURS.... 1.98 ON JULY 19 ...SNOWFALL... TOTAL FOR MONTH......... NONE TOTAL FOR SEASON........ 0.0 SUBJECT: Wet enough for you? St. Cloud July 1997 Weather Summary July 1997 eased the two year dry spell with a vengenance. The monthly rainfall total of 6.89 inches was more than twice the normal July rainfall and was the wettest July since 1986 (7.53 inches). July 1997 was also the third wettest month during the 1990's, only trailing the 10.52 inches of June 1990 and the 7.35 inches in August 1995. There were 4 days with over an inch of rainfall, including the 1.98 inches on July 19. Local rainfall was variable across the immediate area, since 2.25 inches were recorded on July 25th on the campus of St. Cloud State University, while only 1.50 inches were received at the St. Cloud Airport (official site). St. Cloud was close to picking up a lot more rain in July. Several storms went just to the south, most notably on the 17th when Minneapolis/ St. Paul International Airport received 3.71 inches of rain, while St. Cloud picked up just .01 inches. For the month, Minneapolis/St. Paul had its 2nd rainiest July on record, picking up 12.60 inches of rain. The cause of the wet weather was a tendency for the front, marking the boundary between mild Canadian air and hot, tropical air, to remain either within the state of Minnesota or just to the south. This type of weather pattern favors heavy rainfall along and just to the north of such a front and central and southern Minnesota spent most of the month in prime position for this heavy rainfall. The high humidity of July 1997 led to near normal overall temperatures with a below normal average high and an above normal average low. The cooler highs were a result of the reduction in sunshine due to clouds and rain. The warmer lows were caused by the high humidity and frequent clouds, both of which prevent the air from cooling as efficiently at night. Still one record cold high was set on the 7th when the temperature only reached 62 and another record cold high was tied on the 8th. JULY STATISTICS JULY 1997 NORMAL TEMPERATURE ( F) Average high temp 78.2 82.6 Average low temp 59.4 57.6 Average temp 68.8 70.1 Hottest high temp for the month 91 on the 16th,17th Coolest high temp for the month 62 on the 7th (RECORD--SEE BELOW) Warmest low temp for the month 71 on the 12th Coolest low temp for the month 43 on the 7th Records: Record cold highs: new record 62 on the 7th (old record: 66 in 1922, 1969) tied record 65 on the 8th (record set in 1958) PRECIPITATION (IN) Total for month 6.89 3.11 Maximum daily amount 1.98 on the 19th ST. CLOUD PRECIP--JULY (105 YEARS; AVG = 3.42 IN; SDEV = 2.05 IN) WETTEST DRIEST 12.81 IN 1897 0.21 IN 1975 10.53 IN 1903 0.51 IN 1894 9.49 IN 1913 0.59 IN 1967 8.00 IN 1955 0.63 IN 1910 7.53 IN 1986 0.75 IN 1920 7.26 IN 1972 0.86 IN 1922 6.89 IN 1997 <-- 7TH WETTEST 0.90 IN 1914 6.20 IN 1962 IN HISTORY 0.94 IN 1936 5.93 IN 1949 1.21 IN 1979 5.87 IN 1904 1.23 IN 1941 Bob Weisman, Professor/Meteorologist SUPERVISOR: Shirley (age 5) Earth Sciences Department PHONE: (320) 255-3247 MS 48 FAX: (320) 255-4262 Saint Cloud State University EMAIL: scsweisman@stcloudstate.edu 720 4th Avenue South (new address) Saint Cloud, Minnesota 56301-4498 "Ten years of college education, three degrees, and you still don't have a drop of common sense." -My Grandmother (to guess who)