Sheridan Area Experienced 5th Wettest Year On Record In 2023

Last year (2023) may have ended on a dry note, but it will be in the record books as one of the wettest years on record.

The National Weather Service in Billings, Montana says there was 22.55 inches of precipitation recorded at the Sheridan County Airport in 2023.

That makes it the 5th wettest year on record, and it beat the previous number 5 record, by 4-one hundredths of an inch.

It also marks the first time since 1955, that more than 20 inches of precipitation has been recorded in one year in Sheridan County.

Joe Lester with the National Weather Service office in Billings says the changing of the weather pattern in the Pacific Ocean from a La Nina to an El Nino was part of the reason.

“The impacts from an El Nino are a little more pronounced in the winter. When we do have a El Nino develop in the summer, which we did, typically does mean a little more thunderstorm activity, some wetter thunderstorms, and that’s certainly what we did this year, so yeah, that was a piece of the puzzle.”

December ended up being the driest month of 2023, with only 1-tenth of an inch of precipitation recorded, making it the second driest December on record.

The most amount of precipitation recorded in Sheridan in one year was 29.79 inches in 1923, and the least amount was 8.23 inches in 1960.

Weather records for Sheridan County date back as far as June 1907.

Top 7 wettest years in Sheridan: (National Weather Service)

1923 – 29.79 inches

1944 – 24.58 inches

1955 – 23.82 inches

1946 – 23.57 inches

2023 – 22.55 inches

1915 – 22.51 inches

1927 – 21.78 inches

Sheridan Area 2023 Monthly Precipitation Numbers:

January: 1.09 inches

February: 1.35 inches

March: 1.65 inches

April: 1.26 inches

May: 2.07 inches

June: 5.36 inches (3rd wettest June on record)

July: 1.36 inches

August: 1.98 inches

September: 2.78 inches

October: 3.06 inches

November: 0.49 inches

December: 0.10 inches