Pierre, South Dakota climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Pierre's normal year runs from 9°F January nights to 88°F July afternoons, with 20.2 inches of precipitation and 37 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 8.3°C, January lows of −13°C, July highs of 31°C, 513 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationPierre Regional Airport
- Station IDUSW00024025
- Location44.38°N 100.29°W
- Elevation1,742 ft (531 m)
- Population13,788
On October 22, the normal high in Pierre is 57°F and the normal low 33°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 20%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Pierre.
- Jan 29° 9°
- Feb 34° 13°
- Mar 46° 23°
- Apr 59° 33°
- May 70° 45°
- Jun 80° 56°
- Jul 88° 62°
- Aug 87° 59°
- Sep 78° 50°
- Oct 61° 36°
- Nov 45° 23°
- Dec 32° 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 Pierre each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 88°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 9°F. The most precipitation falls in June (3.69 in), the least in January (0.45 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29°F | 9°F | 19.1°F | 0.45 | 5.1 | 6 | <1 | 31 | 9 h 10 min |
| February | 34°F | 13°F | 23.2°F | 0.74 | 8.0 | 6 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 30 min |
| March | 46°F | 23°F | 34.3°F | 0.96 | 5.0 | 6 | <1 | 25 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 59°F | 33°F | 45.9°F | 1.93 | 5.3 | 9 | <1 | 13 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 70°F | 45°F | 57.2°F | 3.25 | 0.0 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 14 h 40 min |
| June | 80°F | 56°F | 67.8°F | 3.69 | 0.0 | 11 | 4 | <1 | 15 h 30 min |
| July | 88°F | 62°F | 74.9°F | 2.39 | 0.0 | 9 | 14 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| August | 87°F | 59°F | 73.0°F | 1.95 | 0.0 | 8 | 12 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| September | 78°F | 50°F | 63.6°F | 1.74 | 0.0 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 12 h 40 min |
| October | 61°F | 36°F | 48.5°F | 1.69 | 1.3 | 7 | 1 | 10 | 11 h |
| November | 45°F | 23°F | 34.1°F | 0.77 | 6.3 | 5 | <1 | 25 | 9 h 40 min |
| December | 32°F | 13°F | 22.8°F | 0.64 | 6.2 | 6 | <1 | 31 | 8 h 50 min |
| Year (annual) | 59°F | 35°F | 47.0°F | 20.20 | 37.2 | 90 | 38 | 164 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −2°C | −13°C | −7.2°C | 11 mm | 13 cm |
| February | 1°C | −11°C | −4.9°C | 19 mm | 20 cm |
| March | 8°C | −5°C | 1.3°C | 24 mm | 13 cm |
| April | 15°C | 1°C | 7.7°C | 49 mm | 13 cm |
| May | 21°C | 7°C | 14.0°C | 83 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 27°C | 13°C | 19.9°C | 94 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 31°C | 16°C | 23.8°C | 61 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 30°C | 15°C | 22.8°C | 50 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 25°C | 10°C | 17.6°C | 44 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 16°C | 2°C | 9.2°C | 43 mm | 3 cm |
| November | 7°C | −5°C | 1.2°C | 20 mm | 16 cm |
| December | 0°C | −10°C | −5.1°C | 16 mm | 16 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00024025; 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 Pierre?
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 USW00024025.
When is the last frost in Pierre?
In Pierre, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 6 in half of years and after May 21 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 3 in half of years and before September 20 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 21; 9 in 10 after April 24
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 31 year in 10 before September 20; 9 in 10 before October 17
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 148 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 167 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 26 in half of springs and before October 12 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Pierre in zone 4b in ZIP code 57501, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Pierre's NOAA station is in zone 5a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −19°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 USW00024025; 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 Pierre?
In a normal year in Pierre, 38 days a year reach 90°F (7 of them 100°F or more), 164 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 90 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 38a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 7a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 164a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 57high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 90a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 12a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1933) is 117°F, on July 15, 2006; the lowest is −35°F, on February 9, 1994.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1982, with 29.59 in; the snowiest season is 1951–52, with 82.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00024025; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USW00024025. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Pierre?
Over a year 78% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Pierre, 4.2 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (87%) and December the cloudiest (70%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 75% | 1.9 |
| February | 75% | 2.9 |
| March | 73% | 3.9 |
| April | 72% | 5.0 |
| May | 74% | 6.0 |
| June | 81% | 6.8 |
| July | 87% | 6.9 |
| August | 84% | 5.8 |
| September | 81% | 4.5 |
| October | 74% | 3.0 |
| November | 74% | 2.0 |
| December | 70% | 1.5 |
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 Pierre need?
A normal year in Pierre brings 7,348 heating degree days, 37% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 837 cooling degree days, 8% fewer than the median (908). Seven months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 2,889 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,421 | 0 |
| February | 1,172 | 0 |
| March | 952 | 0 |
| April | 575 | 2 |
| May | 269 | 27 |
| June | 50 | 134 |
| July | 6 | 314 |
| August | 15 | 262 |
| September | 134 | 91 |
| October | 519 | 6 |
| November | 929 | 0 |
| December | 1,308 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 7,348 | 837 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00024025. 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 Pierre been warmer than normal lately?
2024 averaged 49.4°F, 2.4°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 47.0°F. 3 of the 4 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 49.8°F | +2.8°F | 14.13 | 15.4 |
| 2022 | 46.8°F | −0.2°F | 20.55 | 28.9 |
| 2023 | 48.2°F | +1.2°F | 20.76 | 53.4 |
| 2024 | 49.4°F | +2.4°F | 19.63 | 21.5 |
Over 135 complete years from 1883 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.9°F per century (+0.10°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00024025; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Pierre's climate compare?
Pierre is warmer than 68 of the other 99 places with their own NOAA record in South Dakota, and wetter than 27. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 47.0°F is warmer than 28%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Pierre 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 Pierre share this climate record?
Fort Pierre 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.
- Fort Pierre, SD2,158 people · 5 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 Pierre's climate
What is the coldest month in Pierre?
January, with a normal high of 29°F and a normal low of 9°F. The warmest is July (88°F by day, 62°F at night).
Does it snow in Pierre?
Yes: 37 inches in a normal year, falling on 26 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in February (8.0 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Pierre?
June, with 3.69 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.45 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Pierre in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Pierre in zone 4b in ZIP code 57501, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Pierre's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −19°F (30 years, 1991-2020): zone 5a.
How late can frost come in Pierre?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 6; in one year in ten it comes after May 21. Waiting until May 21 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
- Oahe Dam, SD7 miles from this station, 46.9°F a year
- Fort Pierre (17 mi WSW), SD21 miles from this station, 47.7°F a year
- Harrold (12 mi SSW), SD24 miles from this station, 44.3°F a year
- Onida, SD25 miles from this station, 46.0°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made