Very Warm and Dry October

October 2011 across central and northeast South Dakota as well as west central Minnesota had much above normal temperatures with generally below normal precipitation. Average monthly temperatures were from 4 to 6 degrees above normal across the region. It was very warm early in the month with highs in the mid 80s to the mid 90s from the 4^th through the 6th. The high for the month of 95 degrees at Pierre on the 4^th and the low of 19 degrees on the 20^th were both records for those days. The lowest temperature for October was at Kennebec with 16 degrees.

Precipitation for the month was generally just below to much below normal across the region. The exception was Mobridge where the precipitation for the month was above normal with almost two and half inches of rainfall. The eastern part of the region was the driest for the month with rainfall deficits of around an inch to an inch and a half for October.

*OCTOBER 2011*
Temperature Data	Aberdeen	Sisseton	Wheaton	Watertown
Warmest Temperature / Date	86 / 4^th,5^th	87 / 5^th	87 / 6^th	83 / 4^th, 5^th
Coldest Temperature / Date	18 / 27^th	22 / 20^th, 29^th	24 / 20^th, 21^st	19 / 19th
Average High / Departure from Normal	64.0 / +6.4	63.4 / +6.2	63.1 / +6.2	62.2 / +5.8
Average Low / Departure from Normal	36.7 / +4.0	39.3 / +3.8	39.3 / +4.8	38.1 / +3.6
Monthly Average / Departure from Normal	50.3 / +5.1	51.4 / +5.1	51.2 / +5.5	50.2 / +4.7
Precipitation Data
Monthly Precipitation / Departure from Normal	0.80 / -1.19	1.04 / -1.04	0.79 / -1.38	0.25 / -1.67
Most Precipitation in 24 hours / Date	0.74 / 9-10^th	0.33 / 13-14^th	0.23 / 12^th	0.13 / 9-10^th

Temperature Data	Pierre	Kennebec	Mobridge	Timber Lake
Warmest Temperature / Date	95 / 4^th	94 / 4^th	91 / 4^th	90 / 4^th
Coldest Temperature / Date	19 / 20^th	16 / 20^th	21 / 27^th	22 / 28^th, 29^th
Average High / Departure from Normal	66.1 / +5.1	68.5 / +4.7	64.2 / +4.4	63.5 / +4.0
Average Low / Departure from Normal	40.2 / +3.8	38.8 / +2.8	39.0 / +4.4	38.7 / +3.7
Monthly Average / Departure from Normal	53.1 / +4.4	53.6 / +3.8	51.6 / +4.4	51.1 / +3.9
Precipitation Data
Monthly Precipitation / Departure from Normal	1.32 / -0.33	1.45 / -0.09	2.38 / +0.88	0.94 / -0.62
Most Precipitation in 24 hours / Date	1.23 / 8-9^th	1.25 / 9-10^th	1.34 / 9^th	0.38 / 7^th

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Very Warm and Dry October