Catching Up To 1988

This summer will be talked about for a long time, much like the summer of 1988. 

As you may remember, it was the second hottest summer in Sioux Falls since 1936 and we're currently pushing 1988 for the number of days at 90 degrees or hotter.

So far, Sioux Falls has had 36 days of 90 degree and hotter heat.  We're just five days behind the summer of 1988 and with a full week left in the meteorological summer, we might get close.

But enough about the heat, with fall around the corner I'll like to touch on what the fall of 1988 brought. After that hot summer, average highs cooled to near average for all three months. September was a wet month with more than four inches of rain, but October was very dry with only .02 inches.  November was wet and snowy with eleven inches of snow.  That month gave Sioux Falls nearly two inches of precipitation.

Overall, temperatures were near average during the fall and total precipitation was also near average.

And the winter of 1988-98 had 42 inches of snow, which is close to average. While the winter following the hottest summer on record produced 55 inches.