Ralph, SD Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Average temperature and precipitation from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →, with a derived climate comfort score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Ralph's primary NOAA station, RALPH 1 N.
The climate verdict for Ralph
Dryness leads the climate profile for Ralph, South Dakota, with 16.2 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 44°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.
- 44°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 40/100
- comfort score, above 6% of station-mapped location scores
- 16.2"
- yearly precipitation total
- 128 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Ralph: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00396907 · Ralph, SD 44°F mean · 16.2" 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 #1,098
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Menomonie
- PRCP-DRY 16.2"
- SWING-WIDE 52°F
- COMF-LOW 40/100
- LOAD-HEAT 8,033 HDD
- STN-1 USC00396907
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Menomonie, WI (+ 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.
- Ralph (this station) 44°F
- Hot Ridgeway, MT 44°F
- Near Menomonie, WI 44°F
- Near Jordan, MT 44°F
- Near Ingomar, MT 44°F
Climate Living Index · Ralph
Ralph: 19/100 · grade F
Ralph publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Ralph, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 40/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 16.2 in · 18.8 from 35 in | 33/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 44.2°F · 23.3° from 67.5°F | 17/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 197 calendar days | 16/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 128 days/year | 11/100 · F |
Ralph · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Ralph's normals sit in a dry climate class: BSk
Precipitation is low relative to temperature but above true desert thresholds: cold semi-arid steppe (BSk). Class BSk is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: dry (arid or semi-arid), specifically cold semi-arid steppe.
- Köppen code
- BSk
- Group
- Dry (arid or semi-arid)
- Warmest month
- 70.7°F
- Coldest month
- 18.8°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 Ralph sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Ralph's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 84%
- Among 6,861 stations, Ralph sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 80%
- Ralph'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 Ralph is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Ralph compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Ralph'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) | 0.5" | 30.7 | 0.0 |
| February | 33°F (1°C) | 10°F (-12°C) | 22°F (-6°C) | 0.7" | 27.5 | 0.0 |
| March | 45°F (7°C) | 20°F (-7°C) | 33°F (0°C) | 0.7" | 28.4 | 0.0 |
| April | 57°F (14°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 1.3" | 19.4 | 0.1 |
| May | 68°F (20°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 2.7" | 6.3 | 0.3 |
| June | 77°F (25°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 3.2" | 0.4 | 1.1 |
| July | 86°F (30°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 71°F (22°C) | 2.2" | 0.0 | 9.0 |
| August | 86°F (30°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 1.4" | 0.2 | 10.8 |
| September | 76°F (24°C) | 44°F (6°C) | 60°F (15°C) | 1.2" | 3.6 | 3.3 |
| October | 59°F (15°C) | 31°F (0°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 1.2" | 17.2 | 0.2 |
| November | 43°F (6°C) | 20°F (-7°C) | 31°F (0°C) | 0.5" | 28.2 | 0.0 |
| December | 33°F (0°C) | 10°F (-12°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 0.5" | 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 28, short of 90°F on every date, while 197 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 7°F near January 3.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 27, then returns to freezing around October 14, covering 197 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 June 10, when 33% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is December 12 at 13%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 76 wet dates a year.
The widest day
September 6 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 Ralph.
Where Ralph Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 197 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.
Ralph earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
4.7 days with precipitation
5.5 days with precipitation
5.7 days with precipitation
6.7 days with precipitation
8.4 days with precipitation
10.0 days with precipitation
8.8 days with precipitation
4.8 days with precipitation
5.0 days with precipitation
5.7 days with precipitation
5.8 days with precipitation
3.7 days with precipitation
Ralph runs a summer-peaked wet season
42% of Ralph'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 3.2", 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 51% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: January at 0.5".
- Winter share: 11% 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 Ralph's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 75 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 16.2" between them, or roughly 0.22 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.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
September 23
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 18
50% probability date
Growing Season
128 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
8,033
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
489
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside SD closest to Ralph 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).
- Greer, AZ 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Jordan, MT 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Jordan, MN 44°F · 0.0°F off
- Joseph, OR 44°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (16.2" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Lamar, CO 16.2" · 0.0" off
- Plains, TX 16.2" · 0.0" off
- Genoa, CO 16.2" · 0.0" off
- Kahului, HI 16.2" · 0.0" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Ralph's climate pattern fits together
heating led · dry · mid swing
Ralph's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 8,033 annual heating degree days against 489 for cooling. Its 51.9°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 128 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 Ralph's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 51.9°F. The annual average is 44°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Ralph's cold-season load does not imply a wet climate. Annual precipitation is 16.2 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 Ralph'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 Ralph, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.
Questions about Ralph's climate
How much rain does Ralph get? ▼
How cold does Ralph get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Ralph? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Ralph's primary station: RALPH 1 N (USC00396907). 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 Ralph; 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 Ralph 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.