A climate normal is defined as the average of a variable over a continuous three-decade period. At the end of each decade, a new 30-year average is calculated. The statistic is a measure of the central tendency of the variable. Minnesota's highly variable climate leads to large year-to-year swings above and below this benchmark value.
The map below depicts normal annual precipitation for the normal period, 1991-2020. Click on the map to view a larger rendition.
The normal precipitation map incorporates data from the National Weather Service Cooperative Precipitation Gage Network, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources High-Density Precipitation Network, and the Community Collaborative Rain Hail and Snow network (CoCoRaHS).
The map below shows the difference between the 1981-2000 precipitation normal for Minnesota and the 1991-2020 precipitation normal. Some places were wetter, especially in the south, while others in the north central parts of the state were drier.
