Severe Thunderstorms and Heavy Rain in the Southern Plains; Fire Weather Threat in the Southwest U.S.

Thunderstorms, some severe, may produce heavy to excessive rainfall and isolated flooding over portions of the Southern Plains today and Saturday. Dry conditions, combined with gusty winds and low relative humidities will continue to support an elevated to critical fire weather threat in the Desert Southwest into to early next week. Read More >

There was quite a range in high and low temperatures for the month with highs in the mid 60s to the mid 70s with lows from around zero to nearly 10 degrees below zero. Overall, the month of March was drier than normal across the region with precipitation amounts ranging from a quarter of an inch to nearly an inch and a third below normal.

There were two significant weather systems to note during March with one on March 7^th and another one on March 12^th. The March 7^th system was a high wind event that affected the entire region with 35 to 45 mph winds with gusts to over 60 mph. The March 12^th system brought 6 to 10 inches of snow mainly to north central and northeast South Dakota.

*MARCH 2017*
Temperature Data	Aberdeen	Sisseton	Wheaton	Watertown
Warmest Temperature / Date	65 / 19^th	67 / 5^th	69 / 7^th	66 / 6^th
Coldest Temperature / Date	-5 / 13^th	-7 / 14^th	-3 / 10^th	-4 / 14^th
Average High / Departure from Normal	41.5 / +1.5	40.5 / +1.2	39.5 / +2.7	39.3 / +0.4
Average Low / Departure from Normal	20.4 / +0.6	19.3 / -1.5	18.8 / +0.8	20.8 / +0.9
Monthly Average / Departure from Normal	30.9 / +1.0	29.9 / -0.1	29.2 / +1.8	30.1 / +0.7
Precipitation Data
Monthly Precipitation / Departure from Normal	0.67 / -0.49	0.26 / -0.86	0.15 / -1.33	0.33 / -0.78
Monthly Snowfall / Departure from Normal	10.8 / +3.6	3.4 / -4.9	1.8 / -6.5	11.3 / +5.1
Most Precipitation in 24 hours / Date	0.57 / 12^th	0.24 / 12^th	0.10 / 13^th	0.30 / 12^th
Most Snow in 24 hours / Date	9.1 / 12^th	3.4 / 12^th	1.8 / 13^th	10.0 / 12^th

Temperature Data	Pierre	Kennebec	Mobridge	Timber Lake
Warmest Temperature / Date	73 / 4^th, 5^th	75 / 5^th, 19^th	69 / 19^th	67 / 5^th
Coldest Temperature / Date	0 / 13^th	3 / 13^th	-7 / 13^th	-9 / 13^th
Average High / Departure from Normal	48.0 / +2.6	52.0 / +4.1	45.7 / +3.1	45.0 / +1.8
Average Low / Departure from Normal	25.3 / +1.8	26.4 / +3.0	23.4 / +2.3	22.7 / +1.2
Monthly Average / Departure from Normal	36.6 / +2.2	39.2 / +3.5	34.6 / +2.7	33.8 / +1.4
Precipitation Data
Monthly Precipitation / Departure from Normal	0.34 / -0.89	0.34 / -0.92	0.62 / -0.28	0.78 / -0.37
Monthly Snowfall / Departure from Normal	4.5 / -1.5	5.2 / -2.8	8.3 / +2.4	8.4 / +0.8
Most Precipitation in 24 hours / Date	0.12 / 12^th	0.12 / 21^st	0.26 / 12^th	0.36 / 12^th
Most Snow in 24 hours / Date	1.9 / 12^th	1.5 / 10^th	2.8 / 12^th	3.2 / 12^th

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Severe Thunderstorms and Heavy Rain in the Southern Plains; Fire Weather Threat in the Southwest U.S.

March Climate Information