March Weather in Saint Cloud Minnesota, United States

Daily high temperatures increase by 15°F, from 33°F to 48°F, rarely falling below 17°F or exceeding 63°F.

Daily low temperatures increase by 14°F, from 15°F to 29°F, rarely falling below -4°F or exceeding 40°F.

For reference, on July 17, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Saint Cloud typically range from 61°F to 82°F, while on January 21, the coldest day of the year, they range from 5°F to 22°F.

The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average temperatures for the quarter of the year centered on March. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day.

Samara, Russia (5,301 miles away); Shitanjing, China (6,449 miles); and Xiaoshi, China (5,994 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Saint Cloud (view comparison).

© OpenStreetMap contributors

Compare Saint Cloud to another city:

CompareMap

The month of March in Saint Cloud experiences gradually decreasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy decreasing from 58% to 54%.

The clearest day of the month is March 31, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 46% of the time.

For reference, on February 6, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 61%, while on July 31, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 72%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Saint Cloud, the chance of a wet day over the course of March is rapidly increasing, starting the month at 11% and ending it at 18%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 41% on June 19, and its lowest chance is 7% on January 28.

Over the course of March in Saint Cloud, the chance of a day with only rain increases from 3% to 13%, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain increases from 1% to 3%, and the chance of a day with only snow decreases from 6% to 2%.

Rainfall

To show variation within the month and not just the monthly total, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day.

The average sliding 31-day rainfall during March in Saint Cloud is rapidly increasing, starting the month at 0.3 inches, when it rarely exceeds 0.9 inches, and ending the month at 1.4 inches, when it rarely exceeds 2.8 inches or falls below 0.3 inches.

Snowfall

As with rainfall, we consider the snowfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day.

The average sliding 31-day snowfall during March in Saint Cloud is decreasing, starting the month at 5.0 inches, when it rarely exceeds 11.9 inches or falls below 0.2 inches, and ending the month at 2.6 inches, when it rarely exceeds 7.0 inches or falls below -0.0 inches.

The highest average 31-day accumulation is 5.0 inches on March 3.

Over the course of March in Saint Cloud, the length of the day is rapidly increasing. From the start to the end of the month, the length of the day increases by 1 hour, 36 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 3 minutes, 13 seconds, and weekly increase of 22 minutes, 28 seconds.

The shortest day of the month is March 1, with 11 hours, 10 minutes of daylight and the longest day is March 31, with 12 hours, 47 minutes of daylight.

The earliest sunrise of the month in Saint Cloud is 6:39 AM on March 9 and the latest sunrise is 58 minutes later at 7:37 AM on March 10.

The earliest sunset is 6:04 PM on March 1 and the latest sunset is 1 hour, 40 minutes later at 7:44 PM on March 31.

Daylight saving time (DST) starts at 3:00 AM on March 10, 2024, shifting sunrise and sunset to be an hour later.

For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:27 AM and sets 15 hours, 42 minutes later, at 9:09 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:54 AM and sets 8 hours, 42 minutes later, at 4:35 PM.

The figure below presents a compact representation of the sun's elevation (the angle of the sun above the horizon) and azimuth (its compass bearing) for every hour of every day in the reporting period. The horizontal axis is the day of the year and the vertical axis is the hour of the day. For a given day and hour of that day, the background color indicates the azimuth of the sun at that moment. The black isolines are contours of constant solar elevation.

The figure below presents a compact representation of key lunar data for March 2024. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the colored areas indicate when the moon is above the horizon. The vertical gray bars (new Moons) and blue bars (full Moons) indicate key Moon phases. The label associated with each bar indicates the date and time that the phase is obtained, and the companion time labels indicate the rise and set times of the Moon for the nearest time interval in which the moon is above the horizon.

We base the humidity comfort level on the dew point, as it determines whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, dew point tends to change more slowly, so while the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night.

The chance that a given day will be muggy in Saint Cloud is essentially constant during March, remaining around 0% throughout.

For reference, on July 19, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 27% of the time, while on November 14, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% of the time.

This section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 meters above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages.

The average hourly wind speed in Saint Cloud is essentially constant during March, remaining within 0.2 miles per hour of 12.3 miles per hour throughout.

For reference, on April 1, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 12.5 miles per hour, while on July 31, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 8.7 miles per hour.

The hourly average wind direction in Saint Cloud throughout March is predominantly from the north, with a peak proportion of 35% on March 7.

Definitions of the growing season vary throughout the world, but for the purposes of this report, we define it as the longest continuous period of non-freezing temperatures (≥ 32°F) in the year (the calendar year in the Northern Hemisphere, or from July 1 until June 30 in the Southern Hemisphere).

The growing season in Saint Cloud typically lasts for 4.8 months (147 days), from around May 4 to around September 28, rarely starting before April 14 or after May 23, and rarely ending before September 12 or after October 16.

The month of March in Saint Cloud is reliably fully outside of the growing season.

Growing degree days are a measure of yearly heat accumulation used to predict plant and animal development, and defined as the integral of warmth above a base temperature, discarding any excess above a maximum temperature. In this report, we use a base of 50°F and a cap of 86°F.

The average accumulated growing degree days in Saint Cloud are essentially constant during March, remaining within 7°F of 8°F throughout.

This section discusses the total daily incident shortwave solar energy reaching the surface of the ground over a wide area, taking full account of seasonal variations in the length of the day, the elevation of the Sun above the horizon, and absorption by clouds and other atmospheric constituents. Shortwave radiation includes visible light and ultraviolet radiation.

The average daily incident shortwave solar energy in Saint Cloud is increasing during March, rising by 1.2 kWh, from 3.3 kWh to 4.5 kWh, over the course of the month.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Saint Cloud are 45.561 deg latitude, -94.162 deg longitude, and 1,027 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Saint Cloud contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 180 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 1,030 feet. Within 10 miles also contains only modest variations in elevation (299 feet). Within 50 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (696 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Saint Cloud is covered by artificial surfaces (81%), within 10 miles by cropland (74%) and trees (12%), and within 50 miles by cropland (70%) and trees (21%).