Oral, South Dakota climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Oral's normal year runs from 11°F January nights to 89°F July afternoons, with 18.2 inches of precipitation and 37 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 8.4°C, January lows of −11°C, July highs of 32°C, 462 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationOral
- Station IDUSC00396304
- Location43.40°N 103.27°W
- Elevation2,960 ft (902 m)
- Population (census place)12
On October 22, the normal high in Oral is 61°F and the normal low 29°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 16%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Oral.
- Jan 38° 11°
- Feb 41° 13°
- Mar 52° 21°
- Apr 60° 30°
- May 69° 41°
- Jun 80° 50°
- Jul 89° 56°
- Aug 88° 53°
- Sep 79° 43°
- Oct 64° 31°
- Nov 50° 21°
- Dec 40° 13°
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 Oral each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 89°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 11°F. The most precipitation falls in May (3.30 in), the least in January (0.38 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38°F | 11°F | 24.8°F | 0.38 | 5.6 | 3 | <1 | 30 | 9 h 20 min |
| February | 41°F | 13°F | 27.1°F | 0.56 | 7.1 | 5 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 30 min |
| March | 52°F | 21°F | 36.4°F | 0.86 | 5.6 | 5 | <1 | 27 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 60°F | 30°F | 44.9°F | 2.03 | 5.2 | 8 | <1 | 19 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 69°F | 41°F | 55.0°F | 3.30 | 1.2 | 11 | 1 | 5 | 14 h 40 min |
| June | 80°F | 50°F | 65.3°F | 3.05 | 0.0 | 11 | 5 | <1 | 15 h 20 min |
| July | 89°F | 56°F | 72.6°F | 2.35 | 0.0 | 8 | 16 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| August | 88°F | 53°F | 70.5°F | 2.01 | 0.0 | 7 | 14 | <1 | 14 h |
| September | 79°F | 43°F | 61.0°F | 1.45 | 0.0 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 64°F | 31°F | 47.4°F | 1.28 | 1.8 | 6 | 1 | 18 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 50°F | 21°F | 35.2°F | 0.53 | 3.7 | 3 | <1 | 27 | 9 h 40 min |
| December | 40°F | 13°F | 26.1°F | 0.40 | 6.6 | 4 | <1 | 31 | 9 h |
| Year (annual) | 63°F | 32°F | 47.2°F | 18.20 | 36.8 | 77 | 43 | 186 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3°C | −11°C | −4.0°C | 10 mm | 14 cm |
| February | 5°C | −11°C | −2.7°C | 14 mm | 18 cm |
| March | 11°C | −6°C | 2.4°C | 22 mm | 14 cm |
| April | 16°C | −1°C | 7.2°C | 52 mm | 13 cm |
| May | 21°C | 5°C | 12.8°C | 84 mm | 3 cm |
| June | 27°C | 10°C | 18.5°C | 77 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 32°C | 13°C | 22.6°C | 60 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 31°C | 12°C | 21.4°C | 51 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 26°C | 6°C | 16.1°C | 37 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 18°C | −1°C | 8.6°C | 33 mm | 5 cm |
| November | 10°C | −6°C | 1.8°C | 13 mm | 9 cm |
| December | 4°C | −11°C | −3.3°C | 10 mm | 17 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00396304; 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 Oral?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June and September. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (6).
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 USC00396304.
When is the last frost in Oral?
In Oral, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 15 in half of years and after May 28 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before September 27 in half of years and before September 11 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 151 year in 10 after May 28; 9 in 10 after May 5
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- September 271 year in 10 before September 11; 9 in 10 before October 8
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 133 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 151 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after May 6 in half of springs and before October 5 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Oral in zone 5a in ZIP code 57766, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Oral's NOAA station is in zone 4b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −21°F (18 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 USC00396304; 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 Oral?
In a normal year in Oral, 43 days a year reach 90°F (7 of them 100°F or more), 186 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 77 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 43a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 7a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 186a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 35high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 77a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 14a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1971) is 112°F, on July 7, 1973; the lowest is −43°F, on December 24, 1983.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2015, with 25.30 in; the snowiest season is 2017–18, with 67.5 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00396304; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00396304. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Oral?
Over a year 79% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Oral, 4.4 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (86%) and April the cloudiest (72%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 78% | 2.1 |
| February | 75% | 3.0 |
| March | 74% | 4.1 |
| April | 72% | 5.1 |
| May | 73% | 6.0 |
| June | 82% | 7.0 |
| July | 86% | 7.1 |
| August | 86% | 6.1 |
| September | 83% | 4.8 |
| October | 77% | 3.3 |
| November | 77% | 2.3 |
| December | 75% | 1.8 |
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 Oral need?
A normal year in Oral brings 7,064 heating degree days, 31% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 604 cooling degree days, 33% 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 2,501 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,248 | 0 |
| February | 1,063 | 0 |
| March | 887 | 0 |
| April | 605 | 1 |
| May | 325 | 15 |
| June | 84 | 93 |
| July | 13 | 247 |
| August | 25 | 197 |
| September | 173 | 51 |
| October | 545 | 1 |
| November | 894 | 0 |
| December | 1,204 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 7,064 | 604 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00396304. 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 Oral been warmer than normal lately?
2023 averaged 47.9°F, 0.7°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 47.2°F. 3 of the 3 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 48.3°F | +1.1°F | 15.25 | 54.9 |
| 2022 | 47.4°F | +0.2°F | 14.15 | 23.8 |
| 2023 | 47.9°F | +0.7°F | 24.85 | 58.1 |
Over 37 complete years from 1973 to 2023, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 2.4°F per century (+0.13°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00396304; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Oral's climate compare?
Oral is warmer than 69 of the other 99 places with their own NOAA record in South Dakota, and wetter than 17. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 47.2°F is warmer than 29%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Oral 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 Oral share this climate record?
2 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.
- Buffalo Gap, SD154 people · 7 mi N
- Angostura, SD114 people · 8 mi SW
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 Oral's climate
What is the coldest month in Oral?
January, with a normal high of 38°F and a normal low of 11°F. The warmest is July (89°F by day, 56°F at night).
Does it snow in Oral?
Yes: 37 inches in a normal year, falling on 18 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in February (7.1 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Oral?
May, with 3.30 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.38 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Oral in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Oral in zone 5a in ZIP code 57766, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Oral's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −21°F (18 years, 1991-2020): zone 4b.
How late can frost come in Oral?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 15; in one year in ten it comes after May 28. Waiting until May 28 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
- Hot Springs, SD11 miles from this station, 48.6°F a year
- Wind Cave, SD15 miles from this station, 47.2°F a year
- Oelrichs, SD15 miles from this station, 47.6°F a year
- Edgemont, SD29 miles from this station, 44.4°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made