National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

April continued the string of below normal temperature months for much of central and northeast South Dakota as well as west central Minnesota.  Monthly temperatures for April were from over 1 to over 5 degrees below normal for locations across the area.  The average April temperature for Watertown was around 1 degree below normal compared to over 5 degrees below normal for Wheaton.  As far as precipitation, the string of above normal precipitation months came to an end as the precipitation for April was below normal for most locations across the region.  If it were not for a couple precipitation events, April would have been far below normal for precipitation.  Much below normal precipitation for April would have helped dry things out across the region after a wet and cold winter.  The monthly precipitation amounts were generally from a quarter inch to as much as an inch below normal.  Pierre and Aberdeen were the closest to normal precipitation with only a few hundredths of an inch below normal.  Also, the cooler than normal April temperatures did not allow for much drying to occur across the region.

The month of April began with deep snow cover across the area from a late March storm along with cold temperatures.   A couple snow events occurred in April with monthly snowfall amounts ranging from 2 to 6 inches across most of the area.  Kennebec received nearly 11 inches of snowfall for the month of April.  The late March snow along with the additional April snow only added to the wet situation and ongoing flooding problems on the rivers and streams across much of the region.  In late April, a shower and thunderstorm event brought some large hail along with decent rainfall amounts  to mainly northeast  South Dakota and west central Minnesota.  Rainfall amounts ranged from a half inch to an inch and a quarter across this area.

 The coldest temperatures for the month occurred in the first few days with lows in the upper single digits to the mid teens.  Record or near record warmth occurred towards the end of the month as temperatures rose into the mid 80s to around 90 degrees on April 23rd.  On this day, Aberdeen, Pierre, and Mobridge broke their record highs while Wheaton tied its record high with a hot 91 degrees.  After this very warm day, much colder air pushed in and snow fell the very next day across the region with some locations receiving several inches.