Buffalo, 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 Buffalo's primary NOAA station, BUFFALO 13 ESE - 2 stations mapped to the area.
The climate verdict for Buffalo
Dryness leads the climate profile for Buffalo, South Dakota, with 16.9 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 43°F. At 40/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 6% of scores.
- 43°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 40/100
- comfort score, above 6% of station-mapped location scores
- 16.9"
- precipitation, annual total
- 122 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Buffalo: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USW00094081 · Buffalo, SD 43°F mean · 16.9" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-MULTI · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 43°F
- RANK-COOL #892
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ New England
- PRCP-DRY 16.9"
- SWING-WIDE 52°F
- COMF-LOW 40/100
- LOAD-HEAT 8,320 HDD
- STN-MULTI USW00094081
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: New England, ND (+ 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.
- Buffalo (this station) 43°F
- Cold Carlyle, MT 43°F
- Hot Augusta Ranger…, WI 43°F
- Near New England, ND 43°F
- Near Medora, ND 43°F
Climate Living Index · Buffalo
Buffalo: 17/100 · grade F
Buffalo publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Buffalo, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 40/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 16.9 in · 18.1 from 35 in | 35/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 43.3°F · 24.2° from 67.5°F | 14/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 201 calendar days | 13/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 122 days/year | 8/100 · F |
Buffalo · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Buffalo is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 18.7°F and warmest-month mean 70.6°F place this station in continental, no dry season, warm summer climates (Dfb). Class Dfb is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, no dry season, warm summer.
- Köppen code
- Dfb
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 70.6°F
- Coldest month
- 18.7°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 Buffalo sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Buffalo's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 87%
- Among 6,861 stations, Buffalo sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 78%
- Buffalo's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 86%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Buffalo is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Buffalo compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Buffalo's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
40 6th percentile score exceeds 6% 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 | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30°F (-1°C) | 7°F (-14°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 0.4" | 30.6 | 0.0 |
| February | 33°F (1°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 0.7" | 27.6 | 0.0 |
| March | 44°F (7°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 31°F (0°C) | 0.8" | 28.4 | 0.0 |
| April | 55°F (13°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 1.9" | 20.6 | 0.1 |
| May | 66°F (19°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 53°F (11°C) | 2.6" | 7.4 | 0.2 |
| June | 76°F (24°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 2.8" | 0.1 | 2.5 |
| July | 86°F (30°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 71°F (21°C) | 2.3" | 0.0 | 11.9 |
| August | 85°F (29°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 1.6" | 0.1 | 9.1 |
| September | 74°F (24°C) | 42°F (6°C) | 58°F (15°C) | 1.2" | 2.8 | 3.1 |
| October | 58°F (14°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 1.4" | 19.7 | 0.2 |
| November | 43°F (6°C) | 17°F (-8°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 0.6" | 28.5 | 0.0 |
| December | 33°F (1°C) | 8°F (-13°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 0.4" | 30.9 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 88°F around July 25, short of 90°F on every date, while 201 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 7°F near January 1.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 29, then returns to freezing around October 12, covering 201 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 29, when 45% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is November 18 at 19%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 110 wet dates a year.
The widest day
August 31 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 33°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Buffalo.
Where Buffalo Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 201 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
Daily temperature swings run wider than most of the country, peaking near 33°F between the normal high and low.
Buffalo earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
7.5 days with precipitation
9.7 days with precipitation
9.0 days with precipitation
11.1 days with precipitation
13.5 days with precipitation
12.3 days with precipitation
10.0 days with precipitation
8.3 days with precipitation
6.7 days with precipitation
8.0 days with precipitation
5.7 days with precipitation
8.0 days with precipitation
Buffalo runs a summer-peaked wet season
40% of Buffalo'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 2.8", on a wide 51.9°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 46% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: January at 0.4".
- 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.
Buffalo is dry, and what does fall arrives gently
Only about 110 days a year record measurable precipitation here, 30% of the calendar, and they carry 16.9" between them. At roughly 0.15 inches on an average wet day, this is not the damp drizzle of a marine climate; it is an arid record in which precipitation is both uncommon and light when it appears.
The wettest month by count is May at about 14 wet days; the driest is November at about 6.
A low per-event average in a dry record is a statement about typical days only. Arid regions can still take a large share of a year's total from a single convective storm, which a normal cannot show.
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year, not the extremes within it.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
September 19
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 20
50% probability date
Growing Season
122 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
8,320
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
452
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside SD closest to Buffalo 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 (43°F here).
- Bloomer, WI 43°F · 0.0°F off
- Cascade, ID 43°F · 0.0°F off
- Culbertson, MT 43°F · 0.0°F off
- Glenwood, MN 43°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (16.9" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Corona, NM 16.9" · 0.0" off
- Crook, CO 16.9" · 0.0" off
- Trenton, UT 16.9" · 0.0" off
- Beulah, ND 16.9" · 0.0" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Buffalo's climate pattern fits together
heating led · dry · mid swing
Buffalo's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 8,320 annual heating degree days against 452 for cooling. Its 51.9°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 122 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.
July and January mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in Buffalo's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 51.9°F. The annual average is 43°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Buffalo's cold-season load does not imply a wet climate. Annual precipitation is 16.9 inches, which places the station in PlainClimate's dry range. Snowfall is not added to the interpretation because its annual value is missing. The snowfall and rainfall fields should be read separately rather than inferred from temperature.
These labels group NOAA 1991-2020 normals from Buffalo's primary station, so the winter figures are a thirty-year average and not a floor: a single hard season can run well below them. Treat each band as a descriptive range for Buffalo, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.
Questions about Buffalo's climate
How much rain does Buffalo get? ▼
How cold does Buffalo get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Buffalo? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Buffalo's primary station: BUFFALO 13 ESE (USW00094081). 2 NOAA stations are mapped to the Buffalo area; the primary station's record is used for consistency. 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 an incorporated place (GEOID 4608140). Match rule for Buffalo: 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 Buffalo 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.