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Fire Weather Concerns; Record Warmth Spreads

The Plains to the mid-Mississippi Valley continue with warm and dry conditions. Any fires that initiate could spread quickly. The warm temperatures will expand across the Southern Plains into the Southwest where numerous records are expected through the weekend. Meanwhile, a cold front will move southward across the northern Plains and Great Lakes region where some snow will develop this weekend. Read More >

Overview

May of 2019 rewrote the record books across western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming. Continuing the cold and wet trend of early spring, May was characterized by repeated bouts with well below normal temperatures and heavy snow, including snow on some days in late May for the first time on record. Rapid snowmelt and heavy rain late in the month also contributed to widespread flooding issues, including record crests on portions of the Cheyenne and White rivers in western South Dakota.

Here, we provide statistics on the monthly average temperatures and precipitation totals for downtown Rapid City and several cooperative observer sites across the area, including where May 2019 ranks in the record books. On the other tabs, we provide lists of all daily temperature and precipitation records set at these sites throughout May and a list of the preliminary record river crests during the month.

 

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