October Was One of the Driest On Record

(KNSI) – St. Cloud saw a warmer and drier October than normal. In fact, it was one of the 10 driest Octobers ever recorded.

Meteorologist James Taggart of the National Weather Service Twin Cities office gives the details.

“On average, we get about two to three inches in the St. Cloud area. We had less than a third of an inch for October. With the temperatures…dry air usually means it is going to be a little warmer and we were almost up three degrees above normal.”

The exact count for precipitation was 0.31 inches at the airport or 2.30 inches below normal. The average temperature of 48.5 degrees was 2.8 degrees warmer than usual.

Taggart says there is a possibility things change shortly.

“Pretty much the Gulf [of Mexico], which is mainly our moisture source, has been cut off. But our pattern has been shifting a little bit and the weather models that we’ve been looking at have been shifting to more unsettled, especially this weekend into next week.”

We only have a two-to-three-week window to make up some of the shortage. Once the ground freezes any rain received runs off rather than soaking into the soil. That would leave a heavy snowpack and spring melt as the next hope to bust the current drought.

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