A spot two miles northeast of Deadwood was the wettest in the Black Hills region, Edgemont was the driest for 2008 and it was the second coldest December on record in Rapid City, according to annual National Weather Service statistics collected at the Rapid City office.

The Deadwood area cooperative observation station logged 45.17 inches of precipitation, up nearly a foot from the previous year and well above its 28.33-inch average between 1971 and 2000. Only a site at Lead, measuring 42.92 inches, also topped 40 inches of precipitation for the year.

Rapid City Regional Airport received 20.59 inches of precipitation, nearly four inches above the 16.63-inch average.

Edgemont, meanwhile, received 15.52 inches of moisture, nudging out Wright, Wyo., at 15.54 inches as the driest among 50 regional reporting areas in western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming. Edgemont was the only location below its average; the Fall River county town normally receives 16.26 inches, which hasn't happened since 2005.

A summary of notable 2008 weather events in the Black Hills region includes:

Blizzards on May 1-2 and November 5-7. Each storm brought 10 to 20 inches of wet, heavy snow to the plains of western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming, several feet of snow over the Black Hills, and wind gusts 60 to 80 mph.

Minus-29 was the coldest temperature in the region, recorded Dec. 15 at Oral and on Jan. 22 near Upton, Wyo. Rapid City's low for the year was 19 below zero on Dec. 15. December was the second coldest December in Rapid City, behind 1983. Three days, Dec. 14-16, had maximum temperatures of zero or colder.

Three severe hail storms pounded parts of Rapid City on June 4, July 23 and Aug. 12, with hailstones over two inches or golf ball-size damaging property.

The year's largest hailstone, 4.25 inches in diameter, was reported eight miles southeast of Hermosa on June 1.

Nine counties in western South Dakota were declared federal disaster areas due to flooding in May and early June.

11.49 inches of rain at Fort Meade in May was the greatest monthly precipitation of the year.

14 tornadoes were confirmed in northeastern Wyoming and western South Dakota. Five occurred in Ziebach County, four in Campbell County, Wyo., and three in Weston County, Wyo., including one that tracked across the western Black Hills into South Dakota.

101 mph wind gust measured west of Spearfish on Jan. 27, toppling trucks and damaging buildings and trees, was the year's biggest wind.

102 degrees at Cedar Butte on July 29, and at several locations in August, was the year's highest temperature. Rapid City reached 99 degrees on Aug. 30 and 31. Last year was the first year since 1997 that the temperature did not reach 100 degrees here.

265.4 inches of snow fell in Lead during the 2007-08 snow season, the fourth-highest yearly snowfall on record. So far this winter, Lead has received 107 inches of snow, compared to 45.7 inches at the end of December 2007.