All-time weather records — Watertown, SD

Record high
109.9°F
July 21, 1934
Record low
-40.0°F
January 13, 1916
Wettest day
7.14 in
May 27, 1931

Climate change signal in Watertown

6.6%

of Watertown's all-time daily heat records were set in the last decade (24 of 366 records since 2015).

1.9%

of all-time daily cold records were set in the last decade (7 of 366 records since 2015).

If records were spread evenly across the station's history, you'd expect roughly 5% per decade. Decade-by-decade, here's where each record-breaking day was set:

Decade Heat records set # Cold records set #
1890s
18
44
1900s
9
48
1910s
28
62
1920s
25
48
1930s
108
28
1940s
23
21
1950s
19
20
1960s
16
27
1970s
16
23
1980s
36
13
1990s
20
10
2000s
17
9
2010s
13
10
2020s
18
3

Records are the all-time daily extremes that are still standing — each daily record can only be held by one year. The station's earliest hot record was set in 1893, the latest in 2026. Period of observation: 1893-2026.

Records by month

Month Hottest day Coldest day Wettest day
January 64.9°F — Jan 24, 1981 -40.0°F — Jan 13, 1916 1.27 in — Jan 9, 1939
February 66.0°F — Feb 23, 1958 -38.0°F — Feb 2, 1905 1.54 in — Feb 23, 1977
March 82.0°F — Mar 18, 1921 -27.0°F — Mar 11, 1948 1.95 in — Mar 29, 1924
April 95.0°F — Apr 21, 1980 -9.9°F — Apr 5, 1926 3.25 in — Apr 14, 1912
May 106.0°F — May 30, 1934 16.0°F — May 3, 1907 7.14 in — May 27, 1931
June 107.1°F — Jun 28, 1931 25.0°F — Jun 7, 1897 4.35 in — Jun 15, 1977
July 109.9°F — Jul 21, 1934 35.1°F — Jul 3, 1917 3.45 in — Jul 20, 1897
August 105.1°F — Aug 4, 1934 32.0°F — Aug 28, 1965 4.32 in — Aug 20, 2002
September 104.0°F — Sep 10, 1931 9.0°F — Sep 29, 1899 2.93 in — Sep 24, 1934
October 91.0°F — Oct 1, 1951 -2.0°F — Oct 29, 1925 3.72 in — Oct 16, 1971
November 78.1°F — Nov 4, 2020 -20.0°F — Nov 26, 1996 1.50 in — Nov 8, 1970
December 69.1°F — Dec 6, 1939 -36.8°F — Dec 18, 2016 1.33 in — Dec 3, 1953

Click a month to see every daily record for that month in Watertown.