National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

After a long string of months of below normal temperatures across central and northeast South Dakota as well as west central Minnesota, September had above normal temperatures across the area.  November of 2008 was the last time all locations recorded above normal temperatures.  Although, November 2008 was just a bump in the below normal temperature road as we have to go back to November 2007 when the temperatures were again all above normal across the area.  Since November of 2007, twenty of the twenty-one months have been overwhelming below normal across central and northeast South Dakota as well as west central Minnesota.

For September of 2009, the average temperature was from 1.6 to 4.6 degrees above normal across the region. Watertown and Timber Lake were the most above normal.  The warmest temperatures for the month were in the mid 80s to around 90 degrees.  At the end of September, high pressure, clear skies, and light winds settled over the region bringing near freezing to below freezing temperatures.  Many locations experienced frost for the first time this year. The coldest locations were at Pierre and Kennebec where the temperature fell to 29 degrees at Pierre and 26 degrees at Kennebec.

Precipitation across the area for September was generally near to below normal with Aberdeen over 2.5 inches above normal and Pierre and Kennebec nearly an inch below normal.