September Scorcher: Record Heat Gripped St. Cloud Last Month

(KNSI) – The National Weather Service Forecast Office in the Twin Cities has confirmed September was the warmest on record in St. Cloud.

Meteorologist Brent Hewett breaks down the scorching details. “For St. Cloud, for the month of September, the average temperature was 67 degrees. Average temperature combines both the low and high. That does place us a half degree above the previous warmest September on record, which was 1931.”

Hewett expects the first half of October to be a similar story. “The temperatures will be largely in the upper 60s and low 70s over the next two weeks, which by the middle of October, that’s a good 10, 15 degrees above normal for our highs.”

As far as the lack of rainfall, Hewett blames conditions in the upper atmosphere. Storms are consistently being pulled north of us and then crashing down into upstate New York and New England. He shares the skimpy total for September 2024.

“We had 0.35″ of precip or 35 hundredths. That places us in the bottom three at third. The driest September on record was seven hundredths back in 1952, and then 2012 was around a quarter of an inch.”

Even the cold fronts are dry right now. When the wind kicks up, it creates red flag conditions, like this past Monday. More may be coming in the next couple weeks.

After that, there are some indications that the quiet pattern could dissipate. Current predictions are for a weak La Niña winter, which traditionally brings with it at least average precipitation. As we make the transition, the back half of fall should have some active storms.

Hewett can’t point to one particular factor in what turned September hot when most of 2024 was defined by pleasant temps. Hewett looks to recent trends, where summer has seemed to hold on longer than the calendar would suggest.

___