Crazy weather? Not so much

As some of us wonder aloud if this will prove to be the wettest summer in history, the constant rain has begun to feel like it’s never going to end. But are things really as unseasonal as they seem?

“This year has had some crazy weather,” concedes Susan Sanders, Warning Coordination Meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Rapid City.

“It’s mainly been caused by a cooler and wetter weather pattern over the area.”

But has it been crazier than usual? Sanders thinks not.

“This is the peak of our thunderstorm season and tornadoes this time of year aren’t rare – even in Crook County or over the Black Hills,” she says.

In recent memory, Sanders reminds that, “We had the large, long tornado that started south of Sundance and tracked across the northern Black Hills last year, two around Hulett and Devils Tower in 2014 and the monster one that started by Cook Lake in 2009.”

The precipitation during June was significantly above normal at 14.53 inches, compared to a normal rate of 10.76 inches. On the other hand, says Sanders, it wasn’t even close to the record, which was 18.86 inches in June of 1920.

Actually, the month ranked as the thirteenth wettest June on record and fell even behind last year’s total of 15.28 inches. June of 2018 was higher up the records table as part of the seventh wettest January-to-June time frame.

Is it one of the wettest years as a whole? Not really, Sanders says, using Sundance specifically as an example.

“Sundance’s precipitation has been both below and above normal: February and March were below normal but May was much above normal (6.26 inches compared to 3.16 inches), then June was below normal (2.02 inches compared to 2.85 inches),” she says.

“Especially this time of year, one storm can push the monthly total to well above normal.”

So far, none of 2019’s monthly totals, however, have broken any records. July in the Sundance area has seen a total of 4.38 inches of rain, which is considerably higher than the normal rate of 2.18 inches for the entire month.

The record for July is 5.75 inches from 1922, with last year ranked fifth at 4.47 inches, so there’s still a possibility that we’ll have a record-breaker on our hands by the end of next week.