Brookings, South Dakota climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Brookings's normal year runs from 4°F January nights to 81°F July afternoons, with 25.2 inches of precipitation and 36 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 6.3°C, January lows of −16°C, July highs of 27°C, 640 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationBrookings (2 mi NE)
- Station IDUSC00391076
- Location44.33°N 96.77°W
- Elevation1,639 ft (500 m)
- From the center2 miles
- Population24,555
On October 22, the normal high in Brookings is 54°F and the normal low 31°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 22%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Brookings.
- Jan 22° 4°
- Feb 27° 7°
- Mar 39° 20°
- Apr 54° 32°
- May 67° 45°
- Jun 77° 56°
- Jul 81° 60°
- Aug 79° 57°
- Sep 72° 48°
- Oct 58° 34°
- Nov 41° 22°
- Dec 28° 10°
Each month: normal high (large) and low, °F. Fill: the month's normal mean, colder blue to hotter red.
What is the weather like in Brookings each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 81°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 4°F. The most precipitation falls in June (4.29 in), the least in January (0.43 in).
Each month has its own page with the day-by-day normals, the month's records and its recent years:
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 22°F | 4°F | 12.8°F | 0.43 | 5.5 | 6 | <1 | 31 | 9 h 10 min |
| February | 27°F | 7°F | 17.1°F | 0.50 | 7.1 | 6 | <1 | 28 | 10 h 30 min |
| March | 39°F | 20°F | 29.5°F | 1.06 | 6.4 | 7 | <1 | 27 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 54°F | 32°F | 43.1°F | 2.17 | 4.1 | 10 | <1 | 16 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 67°F | 45°F | 56.0°F | 3.45 | 0.1 | 13 | 1 | 2 | 14 h 40 min |
| June | 77°F | 56°F | 66.6°F | 4.29 | 0.0 | 12 | 1 | <1 | 15 h 30 min |
| July | 81°F | 60°F | 70.7°F | 3.61 | 0.0 | 10 | 3 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| August | 79°F | 57°F | 68.4°F | 3.22 | 0.0 | 9 | 2 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| September | 72°F | 48°F | 60.1°F | 3.10 | 0.0 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 58°F | 34°F | 45.9°F | 1.97 | 1.1 | 8 | <1 | 14 | 11 h |
| November | 41°F | 22°F | 31.2°F | 0.80 | 4.7 | 5 | <1 | 26 | 9 h 40 min |
| December | 28°F | 10°F | 18.6°F | 0.61 | 6.8 | 6 | <1 | 31 | 8 h 50 min |
| Year (annual) | 54°F | 33°F | 43.3°F | 25.21 | 35.8 | 99 | 8 | 177 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −5°C | −16°C | −10.7°C | 11 mm | 14 cm |
| February | −3°C | −14°C | −8.3°C | 13 mm | 18 cm |
| March | 4°C | −7°C | −1.4°C | 27 mm | 16 cm |
| April | 12°C | 0°C | 6.2°C | 55 mm | 10 cm |
| May | 19°C | 7°C | 13.3°C | 88 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 25°C | 13°C | 19.2°C | 109 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 27°C | 16°C | 21.5°C | 92 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 26°C | 14°C | 20.2°C | 82 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 22°C | 9°C | 15.6°C | 79 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 14°C | 1°C | 7.7°C | 50 mm | 3 cm |
| November | 5°C | −6°C | −0.4°C | 20 mm | 12 cm |
| December | −2°C | −12°C | −7.4°C | 15 mm | 17 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00391076; annual normals. Wet days: 0.01 inch or more; 90°F days and freezing nights: NOAA's day counts. Daylight: sunrise to sunset on the 15th, computed from the latitude.
When is the best weather to visit Brookings?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, July, August and September. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (8).
That is a measurement, not a recommendation: it counts the months whose normal afternoon high sits between 65°F and 85°F, where a light layer is enough by day.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00391076.
When is the last frost in Brookings?
In Brookings, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 6 in half of years and after May 19 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 1 in half of years and before September 17 in one year in ten.
Frost-free in half of yearsFrost in 1 to 9 years out of 10Frost most years
- Last spring frost, half of years after
- May 61 year in 10 after May 19; 9 in 10 after April 25
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 11 year in 10 before September 17; 9 in 10 before October 13
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 145 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 164 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 28 in half of springs and before October 8 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Brookings in zone 4b in ZIP code 57007. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Brookings's NOAA station is in zone 4b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −23°F (30 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in South Dakota · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00391076; USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; the station zone: ACIS daily lows, 1991-2020. A 10% date means one year in ten has a frost after it in spring or before it in autumn.
How hot and how cold does it get in Brookings?
In a normal year in Brookings, 8 days a year reach 90°F, 177 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 99 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 8a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 177a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 82high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 99a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 13a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1893) is 109°F, on July 24, 1940; the lowest is −41°F, on January 12, 1912.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2010, with 39.80 in; the snowiest season is 1968–69, with 72.5 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00391076; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00391076. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Brookings?
Over a year 75% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Brookings, 4.0 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (84%) and December the cloudiest (67%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 77% | 2.0 |
| February | 80% | 3.1 |
| March | 70% | 3.8 |
| April | 70% | 4.8 |
| May | 70% | 5.6 |
| June | 76% | 6.3 |
| July | 84% | 6.7 |
| August | 80% | 5.5 |
| September | 78% | 4.3 |
| October | 72% | 2.9 |
| November | 71% | 1.9 |
| December | 67% | 1.4 |
Source: NASA POWER solar climatology, 2001-2020 (CERES SYN1deg). Satellite-based, for the 1-degree cell (about 100 km across) around the station, so it describes the area rather than the airport.
How much heating and cooling does Brookings need?
A normal year in Brookings brings 8,378 heating degree days, 56% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 524 cooling degree days, 42% fewer than the median (908). Eight months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 2,395 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,617 | 0 |
| February | 1,340 | 0 |
| March | 1,101 | 0 |
| April | 658 | 1 |
| May | 304 | 25 |
| June | 65 | 111 |
| July | 18 | 196 |
| August | 36 | 140 |
| September | 195 | 48 |
| October | 595 | 3 |
| November | 1,013 | 0 |
| December | 1,438 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 8,378 | 524 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00391076. A degree day is one degree of a day's mean temperature below 65°F (heating) or above it (cooling); utilities use them to estimate energy use.
Has Brookings been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 45.7°F, 2.4°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 43.3°F. 5 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 46.4°F | +3.1°F | 21.20 | 40.9 |
| 2022 | 45.7°F | +2.4°F | 23.74 | 34.2 |
| 2023 | 45.4°F | +2.1°F | 17.81 | 28.6 |
| 2024 | 45.4°F | +2.1°F | 26.93 | 28.6 |
| 2025 | 45.7°F | +2.4°F | 23.34 | 18.9 |
Over 110 complete years from 1897 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 2.0°F per century (+0.11°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00391076; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Brookings's climate compare?
Brookings is warmer than 16 of the other 99 places with their own NOAA record in South Dakota, and wetter than 67. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 43.3°F is warmer than 13%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Brookings is Dfb: continental, no dry season, warm summer. What the classes mean.
Places with the most similar year elsewhere
Measured month by month on the normal high, low and precipitation, among places of 20,000 or more people in other states:
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for every station PlainClimate covers. Similarity: the root-mean-square difference of the 36 monthly figures, precipitation weighted so an inch counts like 6°F.
Which places near Brookings share this climate record?
5 places have no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of their own, and this station is the nearest full record. A place's own climate can differ from these figures, by several degrees where it sits much higher or lower than the station, nearer the coast, or inside a large city's heat; for the larger places the next nearest records are named with their yearly mean, so the spread around them is visible, and places of 50,000 or more have their own page with NOAA's gridded normals.
- Volga, SD2,380 people · 8 mi W
- Aurora, SD1,159 people · 5 mi SE
- Bruce, SD216 people · 10 mi NW
- Bushnell, SD74 people · 6 mi E
- Rolland Colony, SD0 people · 9 mi E
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
Questions about Brookings's climate
What is the coldest month in Brookings?
January, with a normal high of 22°F and a normal low of 4°F. The warmest is July (81°F by day, 60°F at night).
Does it snow in Brookings?
Yes: 36 inches in a normal year, falling on 27 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in February (7.1 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Brookings?
June, with 4.29 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.43 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Brookings in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Brookings in zone 4b in ZIP code 57007. By the same method at Brookings's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −23°F (30 years, 1991-2020): zone 4b.
How late can frost come in Brookings?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 6; in one year in ten it comes after May 19. Waiting until May 19 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Brookings in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- South Dakota climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Astoria, SD17 miles from this station, 42.4°F a year
- Arlington, SD20 miles from this station, 44.7°F a year
- Flandreau, SD21 miles from this station, 43.3°F a year
- Wentworth, SD25 miles from this station, 45.9°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made