After a national climate report in November warned of rising temperatures, parts of South Dakota experienced record-setting warmth in December.
The National Weather Service reports that average South Dakota monthly temperatures in December ranged from 5 to 13 degrees above normal, depending on the location. Cities experiencing their warmest December on record included Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Huron, Watertown and Vermillion.
“December 2023 will be one of the warmest on record for the United States once preliminary data is calculated and compared to normal and records,” said the weather service.
Low temperatures were another indicator of historic warmth in December.
The coldest temperature last month in Sioux Falls was 11 degrees, according to the weather service. The temperature had previously dipped lower than that in every December of the city’s recorded history, dating to the late 1800s. Other cities with a higher-than-ever low temperature in December included Vermillion, Yankton, Mitchell, Gregory, Menno, De Smet, Canton, Tyndall, Howard, Huron and Brookings.
In yet another indicator, Sioux Falls experienced fewer days with a high temperature below freezing — just one — than any previous December, while Huron had its second-fewest such days days (three) and Mitchell tied its record (two).
The data echoes predictions issued in November as part of the federal government’s Fifth National Climate Assessment. The report predicted “rising temperatures across the region” with the trend “most pronounced in winter” for the Northern Great Plains, which includes South Dakota.
“For instance,” the report said, “the number of very cold days has been below the long-term average in Montana since 1985, in Nebraska since 1990, and in Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota since 2000.”
The assessment tied the trends to human-caused climate change and said reducing emissions of greenhouse gases — such as carbon dioxide and methane, which trap heat in the atmosphere — are crucial to limiting future warming.
