SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — 2024 will be remembered for several notable weather events. Of course, we need to address the elephant in the room and start with something that will likely not be forgotten any time soon.
June 20th through the 22nd featured a synoptic set-up that deposited record-breaking amounts of rain over portions of southeastern South Dakota, northwestern Iowa, and southwestern Minnesota. Multiple communities, including the likes of Rock Valley and McCook Lake, experienced catastrophic flooding after twelve to eighteen inches of rain fell over the area and caused multiple rivers to crest and run over their banks.
Ironically enough, this would then be followed by an intense two-month stretch of drought in September and October…where some locations saw less than a tenth of an inch of rain over a 60-day span. As a result, the entire state of South Dakota would be under “Moderate Drought” conditions or worse headed into November.
In terms of temperatures, it was a tale of two halves. East River, we didn’t get anywhere close to the highest highs that we had last year. Sioux Falls’ warmest day was 94 degrees…compared to 104 last year. Aberdeen reached 98, but they never eclipsed 100 like they did in 2023. It was a different story to the West. Pierre did top off at 104 this year, but even that was lower than 2023’s high of 107. The heat was on in Rapid City this year. With twelve days at or above 100 and a peak of 107, they were far and away the literal hot spot this summer. Also worth noting is the lack of tornadic activity this year. South Dakota ended the year below average for confirmed tornadoes with just 11 on the year.
Now that we’re in winter, we’ll see if we get any colder headed into 2025. If 2024 was any indication, we’ll certainly have some cold days ahead. After all, January of 2024 is when we had our coldest temperatures of that year across the board.
