July 17 seemed a lot like the first day of October with clouds, a chilly wind from the northwest, and temperatures in the upper 50's. The maximum temperature the Twin Cities on July 17 was 65 degrees and set the new record cold maximum for the date. The old record was 66 degrees set in 1939. The coldest high temperature in July was July 4, 1967 with a "high" of 58 degrees. It's the only time in the Twin Cities with a high in the 50's in July. Folks that attended the Twins game at the old Metropolitan stadium were bundled up as the Twins beat the Yankees in a doubleheader that day.
An interesting bit of trivia is that the record low maximum temperature in July and the highest maximum temperature in January for the Twin Cities is the same: 58 degrees.
On Thursday July 16th St. Cloud set a new record cold maximum for the day. The high was 66 degrees, and this broke the old record of 69 set in 1902 and 1906.
The culprit for the cold weather is a large area of low pressure over eastern Ontario. The counter-clockwise circulation around this low is dragging cool air down from Canada. At 2pm on July 17th, many places in northern Minnesota are in the mid 50's.
Below is a record event report from the National Weather Service regarding the cold.
RECORD EVENT REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHANHASSEN MN 730 PM CDT THU JUL 16 2009 ...RECORD COLD HIGH TEMPERATURE SET AT ST CLOUD MINNESOTA... THE HIGH TEMPERATURE WAS 66 DEGREES AT THE ST CLOUD REGIONAL AIRPORT TODAY /STC/. THIS SETS A NEW RECORD COLD HIGH TEMPERATURE FOR THIS DATE. THIS IS THE COLDEST HIGH TEMPERATURE RECORDED AT ST CLOUD ON JULY 16TH SINCE RECORDS BEGAN IN 1894. THE PREVIOUS RECORD COLD HIGH TEMPERATURE FOR JULY 16TH WAS 69 DEGREES SET IN 1962 AND 1906.