National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

As anyone who lives in the area probably knows, 2010 was a very wet year across southeastern South Dakota, southwestern Minnesota, and northwestern Iowa. Looking at the available data, 45 National Weather Service observation locations (Airports, Cooperative Observers) in the area saw precipitation totals in 2010 that ranked in the top 5 on record, including 16 sites that established new record high yearly precipitaiton totals.

The following table shows these locations. Note that these values include preliminary data that could be subject to change, and that there are some missing reports for several sites in 2010. Also, most sites have missing data for some days, months, or years in the historical period of record (POR).

LOCATION

2010
Precip

Record
Precip

Record
Year

P.O.R.

2010
Rank

P.O.R.
Normal

2010 %
of Normal

Notes

Spencer, IA

45.16

42.51

1951

1895-

1st

27.99

161.3%

 

Hawarden, IA

44.28

40.17

1983

1926-

1st

26.52

167.0%

 

Marshall, MN

43.86

39.83

1993

1935-

1st

26.25

167.1%

 

Sioux Center, IA

42.96

39.74

1983

1899-

1st

27.70

155.1%

 

Akron, IA

42.95

42.95

1951

1927-

1st (tie)

27.10

158.5%

 

Wessington Springs, SD

41.36

34.13

1995

1893-

1st

22.68

182.4%

 

Rock Valley, IA

40.96

39.38

1983

1978-

1st

28.49

143.8%

 

Brookings, SD

39.80

33.12

2005

1894-

1st

21.52

184.9%

 

Flandreau, SD

39.47

37.65

2005

1893-

1st

23.78

166.0%

 

Pipestone, MN

38.99

38.60

1993

1898-

1st

25.09

155.4%

 

Minneota, MN

38.97

37.22

1993

1948-

1st

25.29

154.1%

 

Yankton, SD

38.84

38.20

1944

1932-

1st

24.54

158.3%

 

Sioux Falls, SD

38.26

36.11

1993

1893-

1st

25.53

149.9%

 

Howard, SD

38.15

36.00

1942

1893-

1st

22.38

170.5%

 

Forestburg, SD

37.04

36.41

1914

1893-

1st

21.47

172.5%

Missing 11/2010 and 12/2010 

Wessington, SD

35.10

33.09

2007

1929-

1st

19.14

183.4%

Missing 11/2010

Sanborn, IA

45.76

46.02

1951

1914-

2nd

28.55

160.3%

 

Sioux Rapids, IA

42.34

43.25

1993

1941-

2nd

30.16

140.4%

 

Primghar, IA

41.21

42.49

1951

1895-

2nd

28.91

142.5%

Missing 23 days

Rock Rapids, IA

40.60

41.69

1944

1893-

2nd

26.72

151.9%

 

Marion, SD

39.10

39.74

1944

1901-

2nd

25.29

154.6%

 

Tracy, MN

38.12

40.64

1968

1912-

2nd

24.88

153.2%

Missing 2/2010

Lakefield, MN

37.59

39.06

2005

1996-

2nd

27.67

135.9%

 

Montrose, SD

35.47

36.90

1993

1963-

2nd

24.39

145.4%

 

Huron, SD

30.89

31.71

1962

1882-

2nd

20.06

154.0%

 

Windom, MN

41.03

44.84

2005

1905-

3rd

28.27

145.1%

Missing 15 days

Cherokee, IA

40.89

42.86

1938

1922-

3rd

28.56

143.2%

 

Lake Park, IA

37.22

50.16

1993

1912-

3rd

28.05

132.7%

 

Ocheyedan, IA

36.36

49.12

1993

1971-

3rd-tie

29.15

124.7%

 

Centerville, SD

35.61

42.53

1944

1897-

3rd

25.23

141.1%

 

Tyndall, SD

35.48

38.27

1944

1893-

3rd

23.97

148.0%

 

Canton, SD

35.41

37.09

1951

1896-

3rd

24.81

142.7%

Missing 17 days

Menno, SD

35.34

38.46

1944

1896-

3rd

23.86

148.1%

 

DeSmet, SD

35.07

36.85

1914

1893-

3rd

22.94

152.9%

 

Iroquois, SD

32.63

33.22

1972

1951-

3rd

20.97

155.6%

 

White Lake, SD

31.11

38.86

1962

1909-

3rd

20.28

153.4%

 

Chamberlain, SD

29.50

32.60

2007

1980-

3rd

23.28

126.7%

 

Sheldon, IA

41.53

46.02

1951

1899-

4th

28.57

145.4%

 

Lake Wilson, MN

34.95

46.90

1993

1973-

4th

27.26

140.1%

 

Colton, SD

36.21

41.01

1982

1978-

4th

27.60

131.2%

 

Alexandria, SD

33.81

34.80

193

1893-

4th

22.48

150.4%

 

Arlington, SD

33.21

35.11

1995

1929-

4th

23.83

139.4%

 

Mitchell, SD

33.10

36.14

1908

1896-

4th

22.26

148.7%

 

Sibley, IA

37.92

47.83

1979

1893-

5th

28.60

132.6%

Missing 16 days

Worthington, MN

35.92

43.45

1993

1971-

5th

28.95

124.1%