2009 Weather Summary

2009 was a year many will not forget with weird temperature swings in the fall and a end of year blizzard that postponed Christmas for many. Temperatures in 2009 were almost exactly normal for an average of 45.1 degrees. Precipitation was about normal with 23.06 inches, just under the average of 24.69 inches. Some locals saw well over that average, into the 30 inch range, especially southwest of Sioux Falls.

January 15th was the coldest day of the year with the temperature dropping to -26 degrees, the lowest since February 2nd, 1996, when we saw -29. The high on January 15th was -4, the coldest high in about 5 years. Snowfall most of the winter was light, until April 4th came, when the Sioux Falls area saw 6.5 to 8 inches of snow. Shortly after that major snowstorm temperatures rose quickly, on April 23rd our high spiked to 91, beating the old record of 87 back in 1939. that was one of five times the temperature broke the 90 degree mark in all of 2009.

Jump a few months to the unusual months... October and November

October was wet, cold and cloudy. October was the 4th coolest, 5th wettest and 10th snowiest, also the wettest month of 2009 at 5.52 inches. While November turned around and it turned out to be the 4th warmest November on record, 10 degrees above the November average and 3.1 degrees warmer then October. December we cooled off dramatically and within the first week we saw snow. On December 8th, the first storm of the winter gave 5 to 6 inches of snow to the area. Then the big one hit over the Christmas holiday, putting a big damper on holiday travel and activities. From the evening of December 23rd through Christmas to the 26th, there was a storm total of 19.0 inches at the Sioux Falls airport. This was the 4th biggest storm by snowfall total in the history of record keeping.

Here are the monthly Statistics...

~KDLT Meteorologist Dan Bronis