National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Active Weather for the West, Warming in the East

The potential for heavy snow at higher elevations in the western U.S. will continue for many spots through the weekend. In the meantime, the eastern half of the continental U.S. will transition to above normal temperatures ahead of a pair of cold fronts next week that will bring readings back to closer to normal as we approach Thanksgiving Day. Read More >

  After two consecutive summers of not reaching 100 degrees at Pierre, the temperature finally reached and surpassed the century mark on July 17th.  At 153 pm CDT on July 17th, the temperature at Pierre topped out at 106 degrees.  It was on September 4th, 2007 (nearly 3 years) when Pierre last reached the century mark when the temperature topped out at 101 degrees. Mobridge has also reached the 100 degree mark this summer which occurred on June 30th.

Recall that last year, Pierre failed to reach 100 degrees in back to back summers (2008 and 2009).  This had never occurred before at Pierre since records have been kept (records in Pierre date back to 1933).  In an average summer, Pierre would normally record a high temperature at or above 100 degrees about 9 times.  In addition, since 1933, there has only been one other year (1993) when temperatures have failed to reach 100 degrees.  Thus, failing to reach this temperature milestone in two consecutive summers was quite a rare event.  It has also been over three years since Aberdeen, Watertown, and Wheaton have reached the 100 degree mark. Listed below are the dates when the temperatures last reached 100 degrees at these three locations.
·         Aberdeen (102F):  July 7, 2007 
·         Watertown (100F): July 7, 2007  
·         Wheaton (100F): - July 8, 2007