December 2019 Climate Summary

December 2019 was mostly uneventful until the end of the month when a large winter storm/blizzard occurred across central and northeast South Dakota along with west central Minnesota. The storm brought snowfall amounts from 4 to 18 inches along with wind gusts from 45 to over 60 mph at times for December 28^th and 29^th. This storm was the third large storm to affect our region for the season so far. The first early/rare storm occurred from October 10-12^th with the second storm occurring on November 29^th into the early morning of December 1^st. Each of the three storms produced at least a foot or more of snow at several locations.

With the additional snowfall for December, some locations were near or already past their seasonal snowfall normal. Most locations total snowfall amounts so far this season ranged from 15 to almost 50 inches. As a result of the late December storm, the region experienced another above normal precipitation month in an already very wet year. The total yearly precipitation for all locations were in the top ten wettest all-time with most in the top five wettest all-time. Overall, the average temperatures for December across central and northeast South Dakota along with west central Minnesota were from 1 to 3 degrees above normal.

*December 2019*
Temperature Data	Aberdeen	Sisseton	Wheaton	Watertown
Warmest Temperature / Date	40 / 3^rd	46 / 22^nd	41 / 23^rd	39 / 22^nd
Coldest Temperature / Date	-17 / 11^th	-15 / 11^th	-13 / 11^th	-9 / 11^th
Average High / Departure from Normal	26.2 / +0.7	26.9 / +0.8	24.4 / +1.5	26.1 / +1.3
Average Low / Departure from Normal	9.3 / +3.4	9.6 / +1.7	9.6 / +3.6	10.9 / +3.7
Monthly Average / Departure from Normal	17.7 / +2.0	18.2 / +1.2	15.3 / +0.9	18.5 / +2.5
Precipitation Data
Monthly Precipitation / Departure from Normal	0.87 / +0.35	1.03 / +0.64	1.37 / +0.65	1.60 / +1.07
Most Precipitation in 24 hours / Date	0.48 / 28^th	0.42 / 28^th	0.41 / 29th	0.70 / 29^th
Monthly Snowfall / Departure from Normal	12.6 / +5.7	11.3 / +3.7	12.5 / +4.3	12.4 / +5.3
Most Snow in 24 hours / Date	5.9 / 28^th	5.3 / 29^th	3.9 / 29th	6.0 / 29^th

Temperature Data	Pierre	Kennebec	Mobridge	Timber Lake
Warmest Temperature / Date	47 / 7^th	43 / 7^th	42 / 4^th	43 / 21^st
Coldest Temperature / Date	2 / 10^th	2 / 2^nd, 10^th	-9 / 11^th	-10 / 10^th
Average High / Departure from Normal	31.7 / +0.4	31.9 / -0.8	28.6 / -0.1	28.1 / -1.4
Average Low / Departure from Normal	14.9 / +2.8	14.0 / +2.7	13.1 / +5.4	13.5 / +3.6
Monthly Average / Departure from Normal	23.3 / +1.6	23.0 / +1.0	20.9 / +2.7	20.8 / +1.1
Precipitation Data
Monthly Precipitation / Departure from Normal	1.02 / +0.47	0.75 / +0.37	0.68 / +0.24	0.63 / +0.15
Most Precipitation in 24 hours / Date	0.62 / 28th	0.51 / 28^th	0.53 / 28^th	0.51 / 28^th
Monthly Snowfall / Departure from Normal	9.2 / +4.3	8.6 / +2.0	10.5 / +4.8	8.2 / +0.7
Most Snow in 24 hours / Date	2.9 / 28th	3.0 / 28th	6.9 / 28th	6.8 / 28^th