A Dry September So Far

It certainly has been a dry September around the area so far.  Below are rainfall totals for Sioux Falls, Sioux City, Huron and Mitchell through September 16th:

Sioux Falls

0.17"
Sioux City

0.30"
Huron

0.15"
Mitchell

0.21"

Noting that there is still half the month to go, the rainfall values so far compare closely with the top 5 all-time driest Septembers on record which are shown in this table below:

Sioux Falls

Sioux City

Huron

Mitchell

1.  0.22" in 1899

1.  0.07" in 1950

1.  0.00" in 1998

1.  0.03" in 1899

2.  0.29" in 1956

2.  0.26" in 1899

2.  0.10" in 1952

2.  0.11" in 1974

3.  0.47" in 1952

3.  0.31" in 1939 

3.  0.15" in 1974 

3.  0.29" in 1922

3.  0.47" in 1990

3.  0.31" in 1948

3.  0.15" in 1887

4.   0.30" in 1952

5.  0.50" in 1981

5.  0.40" in 1956 

5.  0.19" in 1902

5.  0.34" in 1953

If September is dry, it is far from certain whether the following winter will also be dry.  Half of the time, the top 5 driest Septembers were followed by winter's which featured near normal to above normal snowfall.  There is some incomplete snow data.  The snowfall in the winters following September 1899 and 1939 for Sioux City is incomplete, as well as September 1887 for Huron.  Below are tables which show near normal or above normal snowfall totals for winters following a top 5 driest September:  

 

Sioux Falls

Sept. 1956 rain = 0.29"  /  Following winter snow total = 44.3"

Sept. 1952 rain = 0.47"  /  Following winter snow total = 45.1"

Sept. 1981 rain = 0.50"  /  Following winter snow total = 42.4"

Sioux City

Sept. 1948 rain = 0.31"  /  Following winter snow total = 39.2"

Sept. 1956 rain = 0.40"  /  Following winter snow total = 36.4"

Huron

Sept. 1998 rain = 0.00"  /  Following winter snow total = 37.7"

Sept. 1952 rain = 0.40"  /  Following winter snow total = 37.5"

Sept. 1974 rain = 0.15"  /  Following winter snow total = 71.5"

Mitchell

Sept. 1974 rain = 0.11"  /  Following winter snow total = 41.6"

Sept. 1953 rain = 0.34"  /  Following winter snow total = 36.9"

 



Return to News Archive
USA.gov is the U.S. government's official web portal to all federal, state and local government web resources and services.