Cottonwood, South Dakota climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Cottonwood's normal year runs from 8°F January nights to 88°F July afternoons, with 17.4 inches of precipitation and 38 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 7.8°C, January lows of −13°C, July highs of 31°C, 441 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationCottonwood (2 mi E)
- Station IDUSC00391972
- Location43.96°N 101.86°W
- Elevation2,373 ft (723 m)
- Population10
On October 24, the normal high in Cottonwood is 57°F and the normal low 28°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 19%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Cottonwood.
- Jan 33° 8°
- Feb 37° 11°
- Mar 48° 20°
- Apr 58° 30°
- May 68° 42°
- Jun 79° 53°
- Jul 88° 59°
- Aug 88° 56°
- Sep 78° 45°
- Oct 62° 31°
- Nov 47° 19°
- Dec 36° 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 Cottonwood each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 88°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 8°F. The most precipitation falls in June (3.09 in), the least in January (0.41 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33°F | 8°F | 20.6°F | 0.41 | 5.4 | 5 | <1 | 31 | 9 h 10 min |
| February | 37°F | 11°F | 23.8°F | 0.56 | 6.3 | 5 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 30 min |
| March | 48°F | 20°F | 34.0°F | 1.03 | 6.3 | 6 | <1 | 28 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 58°F | 30°F | 43.9°F | 1.96 | 6.8 | 9 | <1 | 18 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 68°F | 42°F | 55.1°F | 2.90 | 0.4 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 14 h 40 min |
| June | 79°F | 53°F | 66.0°F | 3.09 | 0.0 | 12 | 5 | <1 | 15 h 30 min |
| July | 88°F | 59°F | 73.7°F | 2.10 | 0.0 | 9 | 16 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| August | 88°F | 56°F | 71.7°F | 1.63 | 0.0 | 7 | 16 | <1 | 14 h |
| September | 78°F | 45°F | 61.6°F | 1.22 | 0.0 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 62°F | 31°F | 46.6°F | 1.46 | 2.2 | 7 | 1 | 17 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 47°F | 19°F | 33.2°F | 0.54 | 4.8 | 5 | <1 | 28 | 9 h 40 min |
| December | 36°F | 10°F | 23.0°F | 0.48 | 6.0 | 4 | <1 | 31 | 9 h |
| Year (annual) | 60°F | 32°F | 46.1°F | 17.38 | 38.2 | 82 | 46 | 186 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 1°C | −13°C | −6.3°C | 10 mm | 14 cm |
| February | 3°C | −12°C | −4.6°C | 14 mm | 16 cm |
| March | 9°C | −6°C | 1.1°C | 26 mm | 16 cm |
| April | 14°C | −1°C | 6.6°C | 50 mm | 17 cm |
| May | 20°C | 6°C | 12.8°C | 74 mm | 1 cm |
| June | 26°C | 12°C | 18.9°C | 78 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 31°C | 15°C | 23.2°C | 53 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 31°C | 13°C | 22.1°C | 41 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 26°C | 7°C | 16.4°C | 31 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 17°C | 0°C | 8.1°C | 37 mm | 6 cm |
| November | 8°C | −7°C | 0.7°C | 14 mm | 12 cm |
| December | 2°C | −12°C | −5.0°C | 12 mm | 15 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00391972; 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 Cottonwood?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June and September. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (5).
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 USC00391972.
When is the last frost in Cottonwood?
In Cottonwood, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 16 in half of years and after May 29 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before September 26 in half of years and before September 13 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 161 year in 10 after May 29; 9 in 10 after May 4
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- September 261 year in 10 before September 13; 9 in 10 before October 7
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 132 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 150 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after May 5 in half of springs and before October 4 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Cottonwood in zone 5a in ZIP code 57775, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Cottonwood's NOAA station is in zone 4b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −23°F (30 complete years); the map interpolates between stations and terrain, so the station and the ZIP area can differ by half a zone.
Frost dates for every NOAA station in South Dakota · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00391972; 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 Cottonwood?
In a normal year in Cottonwood, 46 days a year reach 90°F (10 of them 100°F or more), 186 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 82 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 46a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 10a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 186a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 45high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 82a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 13a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1909) is 117°F, on July 16, 2006; the lowest is −43°F, on February 9, 1994.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1971, with 26.36 in; the snowiest season is 2022–23, with 66.5 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00391972; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00391972. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Cottonwood?
Over a year 79% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Cottonwood, 4.3 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (87%) and April the cloudiest (72%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 75% | 2.0 |
| February | 74% | 2.9 |
| March | 72% | 4.0 |
| April | 72% | 5.0 |
| May | 75% | 6.1 |
| June | 82% | 6.9 |
| July | 87% | 7.0 |
| August | 86% | 6.0 |
| September | 83% | 4.8 |
| October | 76% | 3.2 |
| November | 76% | 2.2 |
| December | 72% | 1.7 |
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 Cottonwood need?
A normal year in Cottonwood brings 7,571 heating degree days, 41% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 716 cooling degree days, 21% 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 2,626 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,376 | 0 |
| February | 1,155 | 0 |
| March | 961 | 0 |
| April | 634 | 1 |
| May | 325 | 19 |
| June | 79 | 110 |
| July | 12 | 281 |
| August | 24 | 231 |
| September | 172 | 70 |
| October | 576 | 4 |
| November | 956 | 0 |
| December | 1,303 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 7,571 | 716 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00391972. 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 Cottonwood been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 47.9°F, 1.8°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 46.1°F. 5 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 47.9°F | +1.8°F | 13.06 | 38.6 |
| 2022 | 46.2°F | +0.1°F | 14.09 | 27.0 |
| 2023 | 47.4°F | +1.3°F | 22.06 | 55.5 |
| 2024 | 48.7°F | +2.6°F | 12.28 | 19.5 |
| 2025 | 47.9°F | +1.8°F | 16.44 | 23.0 |
Over 87 complete years from 1911 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 2.1°F per century (+0.12°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00391972; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Cottonwood's climate compare?
Cottonwood is warmer than 58 of the other 99 places with their own NOAA record in South Dakota, and wetter than 7. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 46.1°F is warmer than 24%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Cottonwood is Dfa: continental, no dry season, hot 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 Cottonwood share this climate record?
Quinn has no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of its 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.
- Quinn, SD61 people · 13 mi W
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 Cottonwood's climate
What is the coldest month in Cottonwood?
January, with a normal high of 33°F and a normal low of 8°F. The warmest is July (88°F by day, 59°F at night).
Does it snow in Cottonwood?
Yes: 38 inches in a normal year, falling on 21 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in April (6.8 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Cottonwood?
June, with 3.09 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.41 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Cottonwood in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Cottonwood in zone 5a in ZIP code 57775, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Cottonwood'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 Cottonwood?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 16; in one year in ten it comes after May 29. Waiting until May 29 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- South Dakota climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Philip, SD14 miles from this station, 47.6°F a year
- Interior, SD16 miles from this station, 50.4°F a year
- Wasta, SD30 miles from this station, 47.8°F a year
- Midland, SD36 miles from this station, 47.5°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made