Glad Valley, SD Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Pulled from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →: climate measurements used in PlainClimate's documented score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Glad Valley's primary NOAA station, GLAD VALLEY 2 W.
The climate verdict for Glad Valley
Dryness leads the climate profile for Glad Valley, South Dakota, with 19.4 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 44°F. At 39/100 (below average) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 4% of scores.
- 44°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 39/100
- comfort score, above 4% of station-mapped location scores
- 19.4"
- annual precipitation · 47" snow
- 142 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Glad Valley: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00393316 · Glad Valley, SD 44°F mean · 19.4" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 44°F
- RANK-COOL #1,029
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ De Smet
- PRCP-DRY 19.4"
- SWING-WIDE 54°F
- COMF-LOW 39/100
- LOAD-HEAT 8,161 HDD
- STN-1 USC00393316
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: De Smet, SD (+ 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.
- Glad Valley (this station) 44°F
- Hot Chaska, MN 44°F
- Near De Smet, SD 44°F
- Near Lakefield, MN 44°F
- Near Elk Rvr, MN 44°F
Climate Living Index · Glad Valley
Glad Valley: 24/100 · grade F
Glad Valley publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Glad Valley, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 39/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 19.4 in · 15.6 from 35 in | 45/100 · D |
| Snowfall burden | 46.5 inches/year | 23/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 187 calendar days | 21/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 142 days/year | 20/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 44.0°F · 23.5° from 67.5°F | 16/100 · F |
Glad Valley · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Glad Valley is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 17.2°F and warmest-month mean 71.3°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
- 71.3°F
- Coldest month
- 17.2°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 Glad Valley sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Glad Valley's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 85%
- Among 6,861 stations, Glad Valley sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 73%
- Glad Valley's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 91%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Glad Valley is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Glad Valley compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Glad Valley's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
39 4th percentile score exceeds 4% 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%). This entry sits in this band.
- 40–50: 1,113 station-mapped locations (18%). Above this entry.
- 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
Glad Valley's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 33 complete annual observations from 1967 to 2025, GLAD VALLEY 2 W warmed at a fitted rate of 0.24°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Glad Valley primary station fitted change +0.24 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 27°F (-3°C) | 7°F (-14°C) | 17°F (-8°C) | 0.4" | 5.3" | 30.6 | 0.0 |
| February | 30°F (-1°C) | 10°F (-12°C) | 20°F (-7°C) | 0.6" | 7.6" | 27.1 | 0.0 |
| March | 42°F (6°C) | 20°F (-7°C) | 31°F (-1°C) | 0.8" | 8.8" | 27.7 | 0.0 |
| April | 55°F (13°C) | 31°F (-1°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 2.0" | 7.5" | 17.3 | 0.1 |
| May | 66°F (19°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 2.9" | 0.7" | 3.4 | 0.5 |
| June | 76°F (25°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 3.6" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 1.8 |
| July | 84°F (29°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 71°F (22°C) | 2.7" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 7.6 |
| August | 84°F (29°C) | 56°F (14°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 2.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 8.6 |
| September | 74°F (23°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 1.6" | 0.3" | 1.2 | 2.7 |
| October | 58°F (14°C) | 33°F (0°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 1.7" | 3.8" | 15.3 | 0.1 |
| November | 43°F (6°C) | 20°F (-7°C) | 31°F (0°C) | 0.6" | 4.8" | 27.3 | 0.0 |
| December | 31°F (-1°C) | 10°F (-12°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 0.5" | 7.7" | 30.7 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 86°F around July 28, short of 90°F on every date, while 187 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 7°F near January 11.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 20, then returns to freezing around October 17, covering 187 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 30, when 38% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is November 28 at 12%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 83 wet dates a year.
The widest day
September 5 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 28°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Glad Valley.
Where Glad Valley Stands Nationally
Freezing is routine here by normals standards — the normal low reaches 32°F or colder on about 187 nights a year, more than most ranked stations.
Glad Valley earns one nationally notable standing (outer quintile) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations, middle-of-the-pack metrics stay silent here.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 5.3"
5.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 7.6"
5.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 8.8"
5.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 7.5"
7.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.7"
11.1 days with precipitation
10.9 days with precipitation
8.1 days with precipitation
6.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.3"
5.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 3.8"
6.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.8"
4.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 7.7"
4.4 days with precipitation
Glad Valley runs a summer-peaked wet season
42% of Glad Valley'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 3.6", on a wide 54.1°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 47% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: January at 0.4".
- Winter share: 8% 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 Glad Valley's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 82 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 19.4" between them, or roughly 0.24 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 Glad Valley
Glad Valley averages 46.5 inches of snowfall a year, with March the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 24 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: 46.5 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 24 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 30
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 11
50% probability date
Growing Season
142 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
8,161
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
555
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside SD closest to Glad Valley 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 (44°F here).
- Blair, WI 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Brockway, MT 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Dassel, MN 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Lakefield, MN 44°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (19.4" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Glennville, CA 19.4" · 0.0" off
- Gail, TX 19.4" · 0.0" off
- Crystal City, TX 19.5" · 0.1" off
- Zortman, MT 19.5" · 0.1" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Glad Valley
heating led · dry · mid swing
Glad Valley's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 8,161 annual heating degree days against 555 for cooling. Its 54.1°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 142 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. Glad Valley coldest normal
January
Averaging 17°F (-8°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Glad Valley typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Glad Valley snow peak
March
Glad Valley averages 46.5 inches of snow a year, with March the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Glad Valley's climate
How much snow does Glad Valley get? ▼
How cold does Glad Valley get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Glad Valley? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Glad Valley's primary station: GLAD VALLEY 2 W (USC00393316). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The conservative exact name-and-state crosswalk finds no Census place match, so PlainClimate treats this as a station-mapped location and does not claim it is a municipality. No exact Gazetteer row for Glad Valley; facility counts that depend on place identity are therefore an upper bound, not a municipal census.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Glad Valley 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.