A Tale of Two Seasons: Temperature Comparison of Spring 2012 to Spring 2013

What a difference a year makes. Spring 2012 was the warmest in recorded history for many individual locations in the area, as well as for the Midwest Region as a whole. In stark contrast, Spring 2013 has gone into the record books among the Top 10 coldest in history for many of those same locations. The image below, and the table which follows, detail the average temperatures for the Spring 2012 and Spring 2013 seasons for some of these locations, as well as the normal average temperature where available. The table also includes where 2013 ranks among the coldest Spring seasons on record.

Graph depicting the average temperatures for Spring 2012, which was the warmest on record for many locations, and Spring 2013, which ranked among the coldest in these same locations.

Average Temperature for Meteorological Spring (March-May)
Location	2012 Average	2012 Rank Among Warmest	2013 Average	2013 Rank Among Coldest	30 Year Normal (1981-2010)	Notes
Flandreau, SD	51.2	1	35.4	1	43.7*	missing 12 days in May 2009
Marshall, MN	52.8	1	38.4	1	45.7*	missing 1982
Wessington Springs, SD	52.1	1	38.7	1	46.8*	missing May 1982 & a few in 1981
Sheldon, IA	53.6	1	40.1	1	46.1*	missing 2 days in March 1988
Rock Rapids, IA	54.0	1	40.4	1	46.0*	missing various days
Yankton, SD	55.5	1	42.1	4	47.8
Canton, SD	56.1	1	43.0	6	47.8*	missing 2003 through 2006
Mitchell, SD	55.2	1	42.1	7	47.1
Huron, SD	53.5	1	40.1	8	46.0
Sioux Falls, SD	54.4	1	41.1	8	46.3
Menno, SD	57.8	1	44.5	11	48.8
Sioux City, IA	57.8	1	44.7	12	49.3
Sioux Center, IA	57.7	1	44.1	13	48.8

A Tale of Two Seasons: Temperature Comparison of Spring 2012 to Spring 2013

Average Temperature for Meteorological Spring (March-May)

Location

2012 Average

2012 Rank Among Warmest

2013 Average

2013 Rank Among Coldest

30 Year Normal (1981-2010)

Notes