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Severe Weather Threat Shifted to the Southern Plains and Mid-South; Critical Fire Weather in the Southern Plains

Multiple rounds of strong to severe thunderstorms may produce very large hail, swaths of damaging wind, a few tornadoes and heavy rain across parts of Texas into the lower Mississippi and Tennessee Valleys. Gusty winds and dry conditions will continue to promote elevated to critical fire weather conditions across the southern High Plains. Read More >

The climatological fall (September through November) of 2015 across central and northeast South Dakota was one of the warmest across the region since records began.  In fact, Watertown had its warmest fall on record with 51.8 degrees, which is 7 degrees above normal.  Aberdeen, Timber Lake, and Kennebec all had their second warmest fall on record.  Sisseton and Mobridge were ranked third in the all-time warmest falls, while Pierre was the tenth warmest.  You have to go back over 50 years to 1963 to find a fall comparable to this fall.

The fall of 2015 was also drier than normal across central and northeast South Dakota with Kennebec the only location with above normal precipitation. Precipitation amounts were anywhere from nearly an inch below normal at Pierre and Mobridge to nearly 3 inches below normal at Sisseton. Kennebec was nearly a half inch above normal.

Location

2015 Fall Temp

Normal Fall Temp

Dep from Normal

2015 Ranking

Record Warmest

Year

Watertown

51.8

44.8

+7.0

Warmest

51.8

2015

Aberdeen

51.0

44.5

+6.5

2nd

52.9

1931

Pierre

52.2

48.4

+3.8

10th

54.5

1963

Sisseton

51.5

45.6

+5.9

3rd

53.6

1963

Mobridge

52.3

46.6

+5.7

3rd

53.1

1963

Timber Lake

51.2

46.7

+4.5

2nd

52.0

1963

Kennebec

54.2

49.4

+4.8

2nd

54.6

1963