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Heat Wave Expands to the East Coast; Flash Flooding Likely in the Central Plains into the Midwest; Severe Thunderstorms in the Northeast

Dangerous, prolonged heat is ongoing in the Mid-South to Mid-Mississippi Valley and heat expands into the Northeast for a brief period today. Widely scattered instances of flash flooding due to heavy rains are forecast from northeast Kansas to much of Indiana. Scattered strong to severe thunderstorms are possible across parts of New England, northern Mid-Atlantic, and North Dakota. 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