Waseca Breaks Minnesota Precipitation Record

Late this morning I received a special weather update from Tom Hoverstad at the Southern research and Outreach Center at Waseca. Yes, with the rain this morning, the all-time statewide annual record of 53.51 inches was broken! The cumulative annual precipitation at the Southern Research and Outreach at Waseca this morning reached 53.78 inches. St. Francis had the previous statewide record that was set in 1991. The normal annual precipitation at Waseca is 35.72 inches. Hoverstad said with one month to go in 2016 they will likely exceed the average annual precipitation by more than 20 inches!

In the release, Hoverstad provided the graph of the normal monthly precipitation along with our totals for 2016. Notice precipitation was not far from normal until later in August. When I looked at that graph I thought, "how did we ever get the crop harvested this fall?" Not to mention other field work done like chopping stalks and tillage. In addition, many dairy and cattlemen bale corn stalks for bedding and it sure appeared that got done too. Hoverstad also pointed out November was the 11th month in a row that was warmer than normal. If that trend continues through December, 2016 could be the warmest year ever.