Monday's rain showers have pushed Bismarck's precipitation totals for the year closer to normal.

Bismarck received .36 inches of rain from thunderstorms on Monday, National Weather Service Meteorologist Kevin Birk said. More rain fell throughout the day Tuesday, with .37 inches falling by 6 p.m.

According to the weather service's Web site, rainfall covered much of the state on Monday, with measurements ranging from a trace amount in Garrison to 2.97 inches in Cavalier. In the area, Fort Yates recorded the most rain, with 1.43 inches reported.

For the year, Bismarck remains slightly below normal for precipitation, with 13.18 inches hitting the ground compared to a normal of 14.02 inches, Birk said. After a dry late summer, much of the catching up has come in September, when 2.32 inches have fallen compared to a normal of 1.21 inches.

"So far for the month, we're over an inch above normal," he said.

A wet September also means a wet start to the fall, since Sept. 1, instead of the official date of Sept. 22, marks the beginning of autumn for meteorologists, Birk said. It's also been a fairly warm fall thus far. The average date of the first freeze for the Bismarck area is Sept. 21 - a date which came and passed without the mercury dipping into the low 30s.

"The lowest we've been has been 39," Birk said.

However, the outlook for the rest of the fall is less clear, Birk said. The National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center has predicted that there's a "slightly enhanced chance" of higher than normal temperatures in west and central North Dakota, Birk said. He explained that the tools at the CPC indicate that there's a higher chance of having warmer than normal temperatures than there is of below-normal temperatures.

But on the precipitation front, there are about equal chances of below normal, above normal and normal precipitation amounts falling in the coming months, he said.

Birk said average daily temperatures drop from this point forward. The average high for Sept. 23 is 68, but the average high a week later is 66, he said.

He expects "fairly comfortable conditions" for the next week, with highs in the high 60s and low 70s. There may be a couple chances of rain coming, but no other big storms are expected besides those that blew through the area Monday and Tuesday, he said.

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@;bismarcktribune.com.)