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Shaded-relief map of Crookston, Minnesota: rivers, roads, the city limits and where the water drains.
MINNESOTA · POLK COUNTY

Crookston

414 people, 930 ft above sea level in Polk County.

930 ftElevation, city center
414People, 2024 estimate
37 sq miLand area
Sunny 44°
Sunny now Dew point 24° · SSE 21 mph · high 40°
City of Crookston River Interstate 2 miles
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The Crookston plate. Relief from Copernicus GLO-30; rivers and lakes from USGS NHD; watersheds from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset; roads and city limits from Census TIGER 2024.

MILE1
TODAY

Today in Crookston

NWS forecast and National Blend of Models · updated 2:00 PM CST
RIGHT NOW Grand Forks International Airport (KGFK) · 2:53 PM
Sunny
44° Sunny Feels like 36° · high of 40° near 3 PM
WindSSE 21 mphgusts 28
Humidity45%rising to 81% by morning
Pressure30.14 in →steady
Visibility9 mihazy
CloudsClear
UV index—no forecast
Dew point 24° · Dry42° by Monday: more humid
DryComfortableStickyMuggyOppressive
NEXT RAIN
Rain
Wednesday50% chance · showers
LIKELY AMOUNT—amounts come within 3 days
LAST RAINNov. 110.01 in · 3 dry days
ALERTS & OUTLOOKS
No watches or warnings for Polk County
NWS Grand Forks and the Storm Prediction Center · checked 3:16 PM
SUN & MOON
↑ 7:30 AM4:50 PM ↓
9 h 20 m of daylight, 3 minutes less than yesterday
Waxing crescent, 25% lit. Next full moon: Nov. 24.
AIR & POLLEN
14
GOODAir quality index · fine particles
Tomorrow: None, good. No pollen source yet.

The next three days, hour by hour

Sky: clear, cloudy, night Rain likely National Blend of Models
SATURDAY, NOV. 14
SUNDAY, NOV. 15
MONDAY, NOV. 16
TUESDAY, NOV. 17
3p
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mostly sunny
partly cloudy night
mostly clear night
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partly cloudy night
partly cloudy night
mostly sunny
clear day
clear day
mostly clear night
mostly clear night
partly cloudy night
partly cloudy night
partly cloudy night
partly cloudy day
partly cloudy day
partly cloudy day
partly cloudy night
partly cloudy night
partly cloudy night
mostly cloudy night
mostly cloudy night
mostly cloudy day
mostly cloudy day
TEMPERATURE °F
40°
31°
48°
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CHANCE OF RAIN
50%
WIND, MPH
15
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HOW IT FEELS · DEW POINT
Dry: dew points 25 to 42° More humid: 42° by Tuesday

The next seven days, and how sure we are

Forecast, with the range 8 in 10 ensemble members agree on Normal, about 36° / 18°
SAT Nov. 14 Mostly sunny Mostly sunny
40° 28°
0% rain — SSE 15, gusts 26 A
SUN Nov. 15 Mostly sunny; warmer Mostly sunny; warmer
49° 36°
0% rain — S 17, gusts 31 B
MON Nov. 16 Partly cloudy Partly cloudy
55° 36°
0% rain — S 12 C
TUE Nov. 17 Mostly cloudy Mostly cloudy
52° 38°
10% rain — SSE 9 B
WED Nov. 18 Chance of showers Chance of showers
50° 34°
50% rain up to 0.2″ WSW 9 C
THU Nov. 19 Mostly cloudy Mostly cloudy
43° 30°
10% rain — NNW 6 C
FRI Nov. 20 Chance of showers Chance of showers
42° 30°
40% rain up to 0.3″ E 10 C
How sure are we? AModels agree: highs within 4° BSome spread: within 8° CWide spread: check back
Range from the National Blend of Models percentiles · graded on Forecast Scores
AIR MAIL

Where today’s air came from

The air arriving over Crookston about 5,000 feet above the ground was over the open Pacific three days ago, and over the Canadian Prairies a day ago, about 2,290 miles back along its path. It came down from about 9,900 feet up, warming and drying as it sank. It feels dry all the same. Traced back 72 hours through NOAA’s hourly RAP analyses and the GFS beyond them, nine paths at each of three heights.

THIS WEEK IN 1953 Nov. 17, 1953

The hottest this week has been

67° on Nov. 17, 1953, the hottest reading for this week of the year since 1890. Next is 66° in 2001.

66°
67°
20011953
Source: NOAA RCC-ACIS, the Crookston Nw Experiment Sta record since 1890.
MILE2
THE GROUND

What Crookston stands on

Crookston’s center stands about 930 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 870 ft to 950 ft, a difference of 80 ft: gently rolling country.

Under the town center the state geologic map shows Gabbro, peridotite, pyroxenite, lamprophyre, and metamorphic equivalents, from the Neoarchean, 2.5 to 2.8 billion years old.

The section below crosses 7 rock units mapped at the surface.

Crookston, cut in half from northwest to southeast

A section northwest to southeast, 24 miles through the town center
900 ft1,000 ft CROOKSTON930 ftLow point850 ftRed Lake Riverabout 880 ftHigh point of the line1,080 ft ← NW · NesbitSE →

Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 64×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.

Rock at the surface along the line

Tonalite-leucodiorite plutons

Tonalite, dioritic. Age: Neoarchean, 2.5 to 2.8 billion years old. About 7 mi of the line.

Granodiorite to hornblende diorite, locally magmatically foliated

Granodiorite, diorite. Age: Neoarchean, 2.5 to 2.8 billion years old. About 7 mi of the line.

Mafic metavolcanic rocks

Metabasalt, greenstone. Age: Neoarchean, 2.5 to 2.8 billion years old. About 4 mi of the line.

Biotite schist of graywacke protolith, and schist-rich migmatite

Biotite-schist, migmatite. Age: Neoarchean, 2.5 to 2.8 billion years old. About 2 mi of the line.

Gabbro, peridotite, pyroxenite, lamprophyre, and metamorphic equivalents

Gabbro, peridotite, pyroxenite. Age: Neoarchean, 2.5 to 2.8 billion years old. About 2 mi of the line.

Schist of sedimentary protolith

Schist. Age: Neoarchean, 2.5 to 2.8 billion years old. About 1 mi of the line.

From the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation (Horton and others, 2017), the states’ geologic maps joined at a common scale. 1 smaller unit along the line are not listed.

Heights from Copernicus GLO-90 (a surface model: it includes buildings and tree canopy); summits from USGS GNIS; rivers from USGS NHDPlus HR; rock from the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation.

MILE3
THE WATER

Where Crookston’s rain goes

A raindrop that lands in Crookston reaches Hudson Bay by way of the Red Lake, the Red River of the North and the Nelson: about 1,000 river miles. Past the border it runs north through Canada to Hudson Bay.

THE WAY DOWN, TO SCALE
Crookston≈ 1,000 mi · Hudson Bay
FROM CROOKSTON ≈ 1,000 mi to Hudson Bay Red Lake → Red River of the North → Nelson

Lake on the way: Lake Winnipeg.

400 miles of the trip are on the Nelson.

Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Crookston; river miles along the main stem, rounded.

MILE5
THE ALMANAC

Crookston’s year

1991–2020 normals · records since 1890 · Crookston Nw Experiment Sta, 4 mi west

Crookston has a warm-summer humid continental climate. Summer afternoons average 80° in July; winter nights fall to about −4° in January. About 22 inches of rain fall in a normal year.

16°−4°21°0°34°15°51°30°67°43°76°54°80°58°80°55°70°46°54°33°36°19°22°5° JANFEBMARAPRMAYJUNJULAUGSEPOCTNOVDEC 1234 TODAY CROOKSTON 22.4 in rain a year
Normal high to low, by month Record high to low, by day Rain by month Freezing
July, average80° / 58°high / low, the warmest month
January, average16° / −4°high / low, the coldest month
Rain a year22.4 inwettest months: June and July
Hottest on record105°FJuly 12, 1936
Coldest on record−51°FFebruary 15, 1936
Wettest day on record5.85 inAugust 31, 1908
Snowiest day on record15.0 inNovember 18, 1998
90° days a year7none reach 100°
Nights at or below 32°188and 106 days that stay below freezing
Climate typeWarm-summer humid continentalKöppen Dfb

AROUND THE RING

1Freeze seasonfrom the first fall freeze, about Sept. 26, to the last in spring, about May 12 (median dates)
2Highs below freezingNov. 23 to March 13; normal highs stay below 32°
3Lows below freezingOct. 18 to April 21; normal lows fall below 32°
4Wettest stretchJune through August: 10.4 of the year’s 22.4 inches
NOVEMBER 14 IN THE RECORD

On November 14 Crookston normally reaches 37° and falls to 20°. The record high is 64°, in 2016; the record low −11°, in 1919. The most rain on this date, 0.89 in, fell in 1944.

MONTH BY MONTH
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Normal high16°21°34°51°67°76°80°80°70°54°36°22°
Normal low−4°0°15°30°43°54°58°55°46°33°19°5°
Rain, inches0.510.530.731.272.754.153.272.972.602.090.820.74
Record high57° (1902)63° (1958)78° (1963)96° (1980)101° (1939)102° (2022)105° (1936)104° (1983)99° (1931)90° (2025)73° (2020)56° (1990)
Record low−44° (1892)−51° (1936)−39° (1948)−10° (1979)6° (1967)27° (1964)38° (1967)31° (1964)11° (1893)−2° (1919)−30° (1985)−38° (1990)

Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1890 at Crookston Nw Experiment Sta, 4 miles west. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.

MILE7
ON THE NETWORK

Around Crookston on the Forecast Network

Neighboring plates

Grand Forks ND · 27 MI 27 miles west Moorhead MN · 67 MI 67 miles south Fargo ND · 67 MI 67 miles south West Fargo ND · 69 MI 69 miles south St. Cloud MN · 194 MI 194 miles southeast
FORECASTCITY
Map of Crookston, Minnesota. Explore the plate
MINNESOTA · POLK

Crookston

414 people, 930 ft above sea level in Polk County.

930 ftElevation
414People
37 sq miLand
Sunny 44°
SunnyDew point 24°
1

Today in Crookston

NEXT 15 HOURS
Now mostly sunny 40° 0%
6p partly cloudy night 35° 0%
9p partly cloudy night 34° 0%
12a mostly clear night 33° 0%
3a partly cloudy night 32° 0%
6a partly cloudy night 31° 0%
Rain
NEXT RAINWednesday · 50%
→
Sat0%
Mostly sunny Mostly sunny
28
40
A
Sun0%
Mostly sunny; warmer Mostly sunny; warmer
36
49
B
Mon0%
Partly cloudy Partly cloudy
36
55
C
Tue10%
Mostly cloudy Mostly cloudy
38
52
B
Wed50%
Chance of showers Chance of showers
34
50
C
Thu10%
Mostly cloudy Mostly cloudy
30
43
C
Fri40%
Chance of showers Chance of showers
30
42
C
Letters show how sure the forecast is: A, models agree; B, some spread; C, check back. Sample data.
THIS WEEK IN 1953 · NOV. 17, 1953

67°, the hottest this week of the year has been since 1890.

2

What Crookston stands on

Crookston’s center stands about 930 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 870 ft to 950 ft, a difference of 80 ft: gently rolling country.

Crookston, northwest to southeast Crookston930 ftRed Lake Riverabout 880 ftHigh point1,080 ft ← NWSE → 24 miles through the town center; vertical exaggeration about 122×. Colors: rock at the surface.
Elevation, center930 ft
Within 3 miles870 to 950 ft
Lie of the landGently rolling (80 ft of relief)
Rock at the surfaceGabbro, peridotite, pyroxenite, lamprophyre, and metamorphic equivalents
Its ageNeoarchean, 2.5 to 2.8 billion years old
5

Crookston’s year

Crookston has a warm-summer humid continental climate. Summer afternoons average 80° in July; winter nights fall to about −4° in January. About 22 inches of rain fall in a normal year.

JANFEBMARAPRMAYJUNJULAUGSEPOCTNOVDEC 1234 22.4 in
July, average80° / 58° · high / low, the warmest month
January, average16° / −4° · high / low, the coldest month
Rain a year22.4 in · wettest months: June and July
Hottest on record105°F · July 12, 1936
Coldest on record−51°F · February 15, 1936
Wettest day on record5.85 in · August 31, 1908
Snowiest day on record15.0 in · November 18, 1998
90° days a year7 · none reach 100°
Nights at or below 32°188 · and 106 days that stay below freezing
Climate typeWarm-summer humid continental · Köppen Dfb
1Freeze season · from the first fall freeze, about Sept. 26, to the last in spring, about May 12 (median dates)
2Highs below freezing · Nov. 23 to March 13; normal highs stay below 32°
3Lows below freezing · Oct. 18 to April 21; normal lows fall below 32°
4Wettest stretch · June through August: 10.4 of the year’s 22.4 inches
NOVEMBER 14 IN THE RECORD

On November 14 Crookston normally reaches 37° and falls to 20°. The record high is 64°, in 2016; the record low −11°, in 1919. The most rain on this date, 0.89 in, fell in 1944.

Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1890 at Crookston Nw Experiment Sta, 4 miles west. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
3

Where the rain goes

≈ 1,000 mito Hudson BayRed Lake → Red River of the North → Nelson

A raindrop that lands in Crookston reaches Hudson Bay by way of the Red Lake, the Red River of the North and the Nelson: about 1,000 river miles. Past the border it runs north through Canada to Hudson Bay.

Lake on the way: Lake Winnipeg.

400 miles of the trip are on the Nelson.