Ardmore, SD Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Annual temperature and rainfall from NOAA NCEI's 1991–2020 normals →; comfort score computed by PlainClimate
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Ardmore's primary NOAA station, ARDMORE 1 NW.
The climate verdict for Ardmore
Dryness leads the climate profile for Ardmore, South Dakota, with 18.1 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 48°F. At 49/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 18% of scores.
- 48°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 49/100
- comfort score, above 18% of station-mapped location scores
- 18.1"
- annual precipitation · 44" snow
- 130 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Ardmore: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00390236 · Ardmore, SD 48°F mean · 18.1" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 48°F
- RANK-COOL #1,990
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Grinnell
- PRCP-DRY 18.1"
- SWING-WIDE 50°F
- COMF-LOW 49/100
- LOAD-HEAT 7,032 HDD
- STN-1 USC00390236
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Grinnell, IA (+ 0 °F mean)
Instrument codes from this station's NOAA 1991–2020 normals, mean temperature, corpus warmth rank, photo-finish peer station, precipitation band, seasonal swing, comfort composite, degree-day load, and field book, not a livability rating.
Mean-temperature neighbourhood
Nationwide NOAA normal poles and nearest peers, not a reprint of every SD station list.
- Ardmore (this station) 48°F
- Hot Harrington, SD 48°F
- Near Grinnell, IA 48°F
- Near Taylor, NE 48°F
- Near Oelrichs, SD 48°F
Climate Living Index · Ardmore
Ardmore: 20/100 · grade F
Ardmore publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Ardmore, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 49/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 18.1 in · 16.9 from 35 in | 40/100 · D |
| Annual temperature balance | 47.5°F · 20.0° from 67.5°F | 29/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 44.1 inches/year | 24/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 130 days/year | 12/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 235 calendar days | 0/100 · F |
Ardmore · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Ardmore is a continental Köppen climate: Dfa
Coldest-month mean 23.6°F and warmest-month mean 73.6°F place this station in continental, no dry season, hot summer climates (Dfa). Class Dfa is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, no dry season, hot summer.
- Köppen code
- Dfa
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 73.6°F
- Coldest month
- 23.6°F
Source: official public datasets monthly normals (1991–2020) at the city’s primary station. This is a station classification, not a mapped regional consensus.
National standing · heating-led station
Where Ardmore sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Ardmore's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 71%
- Among 6,861 stations, Ardmore sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 76%
- Ardmore's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 81%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Ardmore is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Ardmore compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Ardmore's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
49 18th percentile score exceeds 18% of 6,189 station-mapped location scores
- 0–10: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 10–20: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 20–30: 96 station-mapped locations (2%). Below this entry.
- 30–40: 280 station-mapped locations (5%). Below this entry.
- 40–50: 1,113 station-mapped locations (18%). This entry sits in this band.
- 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). Above this entry.
- 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). Above this entry.
- 70–80: 650 station-mapped locations (11%). Above this entry.
- 80–90: 921 station-mapped locations (15%). Above this entry.
- 90–100: 564 station-mapped locations (9%). Above this entry.
Source NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, PlainClimate comfort index · 1991–2020
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39°F (4°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 24°F (-5°C) | 0.5" | 7.1" | 30.9 | 0.0 |
| February | 42°F (6°C) | 12°F (-11°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 0.6" | 6.4" | 27.6 | 0.0 |
| March | 54°F (12°C) | 22°F (-6°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 1.3" | 6.1" | 28.0 | 0.0 |
| April | 62°F (17°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 1.9" | 6.9" | 18.8 | 0.1 |
| May | 71°F (22°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 3.0" | 1.0" | 5.3 | 1.4 |
| June | 82°F (28°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 3.0" | 0.0" | 0.2 | 5.7 |
| July | 91°F (33°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 74°F (23°C) | 2.2" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 17.1 |
| August | 90°F (32°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 72°F (22°C) | 1.7" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 16.3 |
| September | 80°F (27°C) | 44°F (6°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 1.4" | 0.4" | 3.5 | 5.9 |
| October | 65°F (19°C) | 31°F (-1°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 1.4" | 3.6" | 17.6 | 0.6 |
| November | 51°F (10°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 0.5" | 4.8" | 28.7 | 0.0 |
| December | 40°F (4°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 24°F (-4°C) | 0.6" | 7.8" | 30.9 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Ardmore works both ends of the calendar. Normal highs climb to 92°F by July 24 and hold at or above 90°F on 39 dates, then normal lows drop to freezing or below on 196 dates, bottoming at 8°F around December 24.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from July 9 through August 16, covering 39 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs May 14 to October 6.
This counts calendar dates whose 1991–2020 normal high reaches 90°F. It is a smaller number than the 90°F+ day counts in the monthly table above, which measure how often the threshold was actually crossed in a typical year. A date can average 88°F and still exceed 90°F in half of all years.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 24, then returns to freezing around October 12, covering 196 dates in all.
Derived from the normal daily minimum. This is a different measure from the 50%-probability frost dates shown elsewhere on this page, which come from NOAA’s frost product.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is May 31, when 30% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is December 21 at 11%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 69 wet dates a year.
The widest day
September 8 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 37°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Ardmore.
Where Ardmore Stands Nationally
Day-to-night contrast is extreme by national standards — the widest normal daily swing reaches about 37°F, sharper than nine in ten ranked stations see.
Freezing is routine here by normals standards — the normal low reaches 32°F or colder on about 196 nights a year, more than most ranked stations.
Ardmore earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 7.1"
3.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 6.4"
4.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 6.1"
5.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 6.9"
8.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.0"
8.9 days with precipitation
8.6 days with precipitation
7.0 days with precipitation
5.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.4"
5.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 3.6"
5.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.8"
3.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 7.8"
3.5 days with precipitation
Ardmore runs a summer-peaked wet season
38% of Ardmore's yearly precipitation falls in June, July and August alone, against the 25% an evenly spread year would give those three months. The wettest month is June at 3.0", on a wide 50°F gap between its warmest and coldest month. Warm-season convection and, across the Southwest, the North American monsoon produce this shape: rain arrives in short heavy bursts during the hottest part of the year rather than as long cool-season soaking.
- Wettest three months: June, May, July, taking 45% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: January at 0.5".
- Winter share: 9% falls in December, January and February.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. A summer-peaked label means the June-August share reaches 35%; it describes timing across an average year, not any single season, and says nothing about how heavy an individual storm can be.
How Ardmore's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 69 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 18.1" between them, or roughly 0.26 inches on a typical wet day. That sits in the middle band: neither the many-light-days pattern of the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes, nor the few-heavy-events pattern of the Gulf and the desert Southwest.
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year and say nothing about the heaviest single storm on record.
Winter brings real snow to Ardmore
Ardmore averages 44.1 inches of snowfall a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 20 days that record measurable snow. That is depth accumulating on the ground, which is why it can exceed the annual precipitation figure: precipitation counts the liquid the snow melts down to, and fresh snow is mostly air.
- Annual snowfall: 44.1 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 20 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 24% of the year's precipitation.
NOAA 1991-2020 normals. The ten-to-one ratio is a convention, not a measurement: real ratios vary with temperature, so treat the share as an order of magnitude rather than an exact split.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
September 23
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 16
50% probability date
Growing Season
130 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
7,032
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
688
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside SD closest to Ardmore on two NOAA annual-normal axes (mean temperature and annual precipitation). Chip rows use distinct link sets.
Closest by average temperature
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual mean temperature (48°F here).
- Anselmo, NE 48°F · 0.0°F off
- Butte, NE 48°F · 0.0°F off
- Denison, IA 48°F · 0.0°F off
- Elizabeth, IL 48°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (18.1" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Republic, WA 18.1" · 0.0" off
- Brownfield, TX 18.1" · 0.0" off
- Mcgrath, AK 18.1" · 0.0" off
- Ekalaka, MT 18.1" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Ardmore
heating led · dry · mid swing
Ardmore's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 7,032 annual heating degree days against 688 for cooling. Its 50.0°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 130 days are frost-free in a normal year. That short interval is consistent with the cold-season signal, but the measure does not predict the exact first or last freeze in any one year.
-
1. Ardmore coldest normal
January
Averaging 24°F (-5°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Ardmore typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Ardmore snow peak
December
Ardmore averages 44.1 inches of snow a year, with December the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Ardmore's climate
How much snow does Ardmore get? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Ardmore get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Ardmore? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Ardmore's primary station: ARDMORE 1 NW (USC00390236). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The 2024 Census Gazetteer identifies the exact name-and-state match as a census-designated place (GEOID 4601980), not an incorporated municipality. Match rule for Ardmore: exact normalized name + state only, no fuzzy expansion, so nearby differently spelled facilities stay unmatched.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Ardmore comes from its primary NOAA station record. No figure on this page is typed in by an editor - each value is rendered from NOAA 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 1991–2020 normals.