YANKTON - South Dakota's state climatologist says preliminary data suggest that this winter has been colder than average.

Dennis Todey said the period of December through February was the coldest in seven years.

Todey said the eastern third of South Dakota was three to five degrees below normal, and the rest of the state was two or three degrees below normal.

A few locations in the middle of the state had average or slightly above average winter temperatures.

Todey said the winter probably ranks among the 25 coldest in the past century in the Mount Rushmore State.

"We did set a few daily low temperature records in a few locations. Sioux Falls tied one, Yankton set a low temperature record, I think Watertown and Sisseton set low temperature records on individual days," Todey said. "But other than that, there wasn't too much in the way of records this winter."

From a precipitation standpoint, the winter was quite dry.

Some areas south of Interstate 90 and the northern Black Hills got a few extra storms and snowfall, but it was especially dry in the northeast to north central and northwest parts of the state, Todey said.

"There are several stations in the northeastern part of the state that were in the top 10 driest winters when we compare those," he said.

Todey said March tends to be a month for higher snowfall as South Dakota begins transitioning from the lowest precipitation months of the year - December and January - toward the peak precipitation months of May and June.