Rochford, SD Climate: Temperature by Month
Explore NOAA NCEI's 1991–2020 climate normals → and a clearly labeled PlainClimate comfort calculation
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Rochford's primary NOAA station, ROCHFORD 2 WNW.
The climate verdict for Rochford
Rochford, South Dakota has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 39°F. July is the warmest month at 62°F and January the coldest at 20°F.
- 39°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
Rochford: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00397227 · Rochford, SD 39°F mean
TEMP-COLD · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-UNK · SWING-MID · COMF-UNK · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-PART
- TEMP-COLD 39°F
- RANK-COOL #274
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Meredith
- PRCP-UNK Rain n/a
- SWING-MID 42°F
- COMF-UNK Comfort n/a
- LOAD-HEAT 9,565 HDD
- STN-1 USC00397227
- BOOK-PART 4/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Meredith, CO ( -0.1 °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.
- Rochford (this station) 39°F
- Cold Meredith, CO 39°F
- Near Dillon, MT 39°F
- Near Alyeska, AK 39°F
- Near Bodie Californi…, CA 39°F
National standing · heating-led station
Where Rochford sits across the climate record
Available NOAA 1991–2020 fields for Rochford are ranked only against stations that publish the same field, missing metrics stay blank rather than estimated.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 96%
- Among 6,861 stations, Rochford sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- 44th percentile swing
- Typical seasonal amplitude versus 6,861 complete station-years.
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37°F (3°C) | 3°F (-16°C) | 20°F (-7°C) | N/A | 30.9 | 0.0 |
| February | 37°F (3°C) | 4°F (-15°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | N/A | 27.9 | 0.0 |
| March | 45°F (7°C) | 12°F (-11°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | N/A | 30.5 | 0.0 |
| April | 51°F (11°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 36°F (2°C) | N/A | 28.2 | 0.0 |
| May | 60°F (15°C) | 31°F (-1°C) | 45°F (7°C) | N/A | 18.8 | 0.0 |
| June | 71°F (22°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 55°F (13°C) | N/A | 6.4 | 0.3 |
| July | 80°F (27°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 62°F (17°C) | N/A | 1.3 | 2.4 |
| August | 79°F (26°C) | 40°F (5°C) | 60°F (15°C) | N/A | 2.3 | 1.7 |
| September | 71°F (22°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 51°F (11°C) | N/A | 19.3 | 0.3 |
| October | 56°F (13°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 39°F (4°C) | N/A | 29.1 | 0.0 |
| November | 44°F (7°C) | 12°F (-11°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | N/A | 29.8 | 0.0 |
| December | 37°F (3°C) | 6°F (-14°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | N/A | 30.9 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 81°F around July 23, short of 90°F on every date, while 250 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 2°F near January 17.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into May 20, then returns to freezing around September 14, covering 250 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.
The widest day
September 3 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 41°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Rochford.
Where Rochford Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 250 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
Day-to-night contrast is extreme by national standards — the widest normal daily swing reaches about 41°F, sharper than nine in ten ranked stations see.
Rochford earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
N/A
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
N/A
50% probability date
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
9,565
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
55
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside SD closest to Rochford 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 (39°F here).
- Fosston, MN 39°F · 0.0°F off
- Rugby, ND 39°F · 0.0°F off
- Wildrose, ND 39°F · 0.0°F off
- Dillon, MT 39°F · 0.1°F off
Data-derived climate profile
How Rochford's climate pattern fits together
heating led · mid swing
Rochford's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 9,565 annual heating degree days against 55 for cooling. Its 42.0°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
A frost-free growing-season length is not available for Rochford. That missing field is kept separate from the observed temperature and precipitation record rather than filled from a regional estimate.
July and January mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in Rochford's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 42.0°F. The annual average is 39°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
A moisture-range label is withheld because Rochford's annual precipitation total is unavailable. Monthly source values remain visible where NOAA provides them, and no annual amount is reconstructed from incomplete data.
These labels group NOAA 1991-2020 normals from Rochford'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 Rochford, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.
Questions about Rochford's climate
How cold does Rochford get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Rochford? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Rochford's primary station: ROCHFORD 2 WNW (USC00397227). 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 Rochford; 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 Rochford 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.