The heat will increase and expand across the Central Plains, Mississippi Valley, Southeast and into the Eastern U.S. through the week as high pressure builds across the eastern two-thirds of the country. On the northern periphery of this heat, the threat for severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall across the northern Plains and upper Midwest through Tuesday. Critical Fire Weather for the west. Read More >
Meteorological autumn (September - November) will end up as being one of the driest on record for many locations across northeastern South Dakota and west-central Minnesota. In fact, several reporting locations have set or tied their all time record for driest autumn periods on record!
The table below shows the Sep-Nov 2011 precipitation totals for several sites across the Aberdeen forecast area, along with the overall ranking, and year and amount of the record (or previous record) dry autumn.
Location |
Sept-Nov Precipitation |
Rank |
Record (or previous record) |
Year |
Clark |
1.41 |
1st |
1.44 |
1935 |
Watertown |
0.93 |
1st(Tie) |
0.93 |
1935 |
Artichoke Lake |
1.44 |
1st(Tie) |
1.44 |
1976 |
Browns Valley |
1.33 |
2nd |
1.30 |
1980 |
Victor 4NNE |
1.31 |
3rd |
0.91 |
1976 |
Wilmot |
1.51 |
4th |
1.39 |
1976 |
Summit 1W |
1.59 |
4th |
1.20 |
1980 |
Wheaton |
1.33 |
4th |
1.19 |
1976 |
Sisseton |
1.64 |
10th |
0.88 |
1935 |
Aberdeen |
1.47 |
11th |
0.80 |
1964 |
Figure 1 below depicts the 90-Day Departure from Normal Precipitation. Notice that precipitation departures across far eastern South Dakota range from 2.0” below normal to as much as 5.0” below normal!
Figure 2 below depicts the 90-Day Percent of Normal Precipitation. Notice that some areas across far eastern South Dakota and western Minnesota have only seen 5% of normal precipitation.