Sioux Falls, South Dakota climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Sioux Falls's normal year runs from 9°F January nights to 85°F July afternoons, with 27.9 inches of precipitation and 45 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 8.5°C, January lows of −13°C, July highs of 30°C, 707 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationSioux Falls Foss Field
- Station IDUSW00014944
- Location43.59°N 96.73°W
- Elevation1,430 ft (436 m)
- From the center3 miles
- Population209,289
On October 22, the normal high in Sioux Falls is 58°F and the normal low 35°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 24%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Sioux Falls.
- Jan 27° 9°
- Feb 32° 13°
- Mar 45° 24°
- Apr 59° 36°
- May 71° 48°
- Jun 81° 59°
- Jul 85° 63°
- Aug 83° 61°
- Sep 76° 52°
- Oct 61° 38°
- Nov 45° 25°
- 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 Sioux Falls each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 85°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 9°F. The most precipitation falls in June (4.23 in), the least in January (0.60 in).
Each month has its own page with the day-by-day normals, the month's records and its recent years:
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 27°F | 9°F | 17.9°F | 0.60 | 8.0 | 7 | <1 | 31 | 9 h 20 min |
| February | 32°F | 13°F | 22.3°F | 0.83 | 8.6 | 7 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 30 min |
| March | 45°F | 24°F | 34.7°F | 1.60 | 7.2 | 8 | <1 | 25 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 59°F | 36°F | 47.2°F | 3.00 | 5.1 | 10 | <1 | 13 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 71°F | 48°F | 59.1°F | 3.86 | 0.1 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 14 h 40 min |
| June | 81°F | 59°F | 69.9°F | 4.23 | 0.0 | 12 | 3 | <1 | 15 h 20 min |
| July | 85°F | 63°F | 74.4°F | 3.25 | 0.0 | 9 | 7 | <1 | 15 h 10 min |
| August | 83°F | 61°F | 72.0°F | 3.34 | 0.0 | 9 | 4 | <1 | 14 h |
| September | 76°F | 52°F | 63.8°F | 2.73 | 0.0 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 61°F | 38°F | 49.6°F | 2.36 | 1.4 | 8 | <1 | 10 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 45°F | 25°F | 34.8°F | 1.22 | 6.2 | 6 | <1 | 24 | 9 h 40 min |
| December | 32°F | 13°F | 22.5°F | 0.83 | 8.7 | 7 | <1 | 30 | 9 h |
| Year (annual) | 58°F | 37°F | 47.3°F | 27.85 | 45.3 | 104 | 15 | 162 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −3°C | −13°C | −7.8°C | 15 mm | 20 cm |
| February | 0°C | −11°C | −5.4°C | 21 mm | 22 cm |
| March | 7°C | −4°C | 1.5°C | 41 mm | 18 cm |
| April | 15°C | 2°C | 8.4°C | 76 mm | 13 cm |
| May | 22°C | 9°C | 15.1°C | 98 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 27°C | 15°C | 21.1°C | 107 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 30°C | 17°C | 23.6°C | 83 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 28°C | 16°C | 22.2°C | 85 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 24°C | 11°C | 17.7°C | 69 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 16°C | 3°C | 9.8°C | 60 mm | 4 cm |
| November | 7°C | −4°C | 1.6°C | 31 mm | 16 cm |
| December | 0°C | −10°C | −5.3°C | 21 mm | 22 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00014944; 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 Sioux Falls?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, August and September. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (8).
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 USW00014944.
When is the last frost in Sioux Falls?
In Sioux Falls, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 1 in half of years and after May 14 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 6 in half of years and before September 23 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 11 year in 10 after May 14; 9 in 10 after April 18
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 61 year in 10 before September 23; 9 in 10 before October 20
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 157 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 176 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 22 in half of springs and before October 17 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Sioux Falls in zone 5a across its 7 ZIP code areas (5a in 57104, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Sioux Falls's NOAA station is in zone 5a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −19°F (30 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in South Dakota · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00014944; 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.
What hardiness zone is each Sioux Falls ZIP code in?
The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Sioux Falls's 7 ZIP code areas are all in zone 5a. Each ZIP's frost dates are in the frost tool.
Source: USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; ZIP areas in the place: Census Bureau 2020 ZCTA-to-place relationship file. A ZIP area counts when at least a tenth of its land (and 0.5 km²) lies in the place.
How hot and how cold does it get in Sioux Falls?
In a normal year in Sioux Falls, 15 days a year reach 90°F (1 of them 100°F or more), 162 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 104 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 15a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 162a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 66high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 104a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 13a normal year
The highest temperature in Sioux Falls's official record (kept by the National Weather Service since 1893) is 110°F, on June 21, 1988; the lowest is −42°F, on February 9, 1899.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2019, with 39.54 in; the snowiest season is 1968–69, with 94.7 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00014944; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), NWS threaded record FSDthr. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How humid and windy is Sioux Falls, and how clear are its skies?
The summer (June-August) dew point averages 61°F. The muggiest month is July, with an average dew point of 62°F; the driest air comes in December (12°F). March is the windiest month (12.0 mph on average), and August has the most clear or nearly clear hours (69%).
| Month | Dew point | Humidity | Afternoon humidity | Wind | Clear or few clouds | Overcast |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 13°F | 77% | 67% | 9.8 mph | 50% | 35% |
| February | 18°F | 75% | 62% | 10.6 mph | 50% | 34% |
| March | 29°F | 64% | 46% | 12.0 mph | 50% | 32% |
| April | 39°F | 61% | 43% | 11.3 mph | 51% | 28% |
| May | 52°F | 66% | 49% | 9.6 mph | 50% | 26% |
| June | 61°F | 68% | 51% | 9.6 mph | 63% | 12% |
| July | 62°F | 72% | 54% | 8.2 mph | 63% | 13% |
| August | 59°F | 72% | 52% | 9.2 mph | 69% | 14% |
| September | 44°F | 66% | 45% | 9.5 mph | 66% | 20% |
| October | 31°F | 68% | 49% | 10.1 mph | 58% | 28% |
| November | 20°F | 75% | 61% | 9.8 mph | 54% | 33% |
| December | 12°F | 78% | 69% | 9.8 mph | 52% | 36% |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 hourly normals, station USW00014944. Monthly averages of all hours; afternoon humidity at 3 p.m. local standard time; sky as the share of hours NOAA's observations rate clear or few clouds (a dash where NOAA publishes no sky value).
How sunny is Sioux Falls?
Over a year 76% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Sioux Falls, 4.1 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (85%) and May the cloudiest (71%). Among the 459 U.S. places of 50,000 or more, that ranks tied 276th (with 27 others) in sunshine.
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 75% | 2.0 |
| February | 79% | 3.1 |
| March | 72% | 3.9 |
| April | 71% | 5.0 |
| May | 71% | 5.6 |
| June | 77% | 6.4 |
| July | 85% | 6.7 |
| August | 81% | 5.5 |
| September | 79% | 4.4 |
| October | 74% | 3.0 |
| November | 74% | 2.1 |
| December | 71% | 1.6 |
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 Sioux Falls need?
A normal year in Sioux Falls brings 7,249 heating degree days, 35% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 847 cooling degree days, 7% 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 2,989 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,461 | 0 |
| February | 1,195 | 0 |
| March | 942 | 1 |
| April | 538 | 5 |
| May | 227 | 45 |
| June | 33 | 178 |
| July | 5 | 294 |
| August | 12 | 227 |
| September | 126 | 89 |
| October | 485 | 8 |
| November | 908 | 0 |
| December | 1,317 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 7,249 | 847 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00014944. 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 Sioux Falls been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 48.5°F, 1.2°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 47.3°F. 5 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 49.9°F | +2.6°F | 27.73 | 32.0 |
| 2022 | 47.5°F | +0.2°F | 24.81 | 31.1 |
| 2023 | 49.8°F | +2.5°F | 18.79 | 45.3 |
| 2024 | 50.5°F | +3.3°F | 30.21 | 27.6 |
| 2025 | 48.5°F | +1.2°F | 20.83 | 32.1 |
Over 92 complete years from 1932 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 3.5°F per century (+0.20°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00014944; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Sioux Falls's climate compare?
Sioux Falls is warmer than 70 of the other 99 places with their own NOAA record in South Dakota, and wetter than 88. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 47.3°F is warmer than 29%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Sioux Falls 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 Sioux Falls share this climate record?
13 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.
- Brandon, SD10,837 people · 7 mi E
- Tea, SD7,699 people · 10 mi SW
- Hartford, SD3,600 people · 11 mi W
- Crooks, SD1,369 people · 6 mi NW
- Baltic, SD1,331 people · 12 mi N
- Meadow View Addition, SD880 people · 3 mi NE
- Shindler, SD651 people · 10 mi SE
- Anderson, SD406 people · 7 mi SE
- Chancellor, SD312 people · 20 mi SW
- Renner Corner, SD249 people · 4 mi N
- Pine Lakes Addition, SD243 people · 5 mi SE
- Rowena, SD137 people · 10 mi SE
- Lyons, SD94 people · 12 mi NW
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
What do Sioux Falls's other NOAA stations record?
2 more NOAA stations keep 1991-2020 normals in or near Sioux Falls. This page uses Sioux Falls Foss Field; the others differ by site and elevation:
| Station | From the center | Elevation | Year | Jan low | Jul high | Precip. | Snow | Last frost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sioux Falls (14 mi NNE) USW00004990 | 14 mi N | 1,594 ft | 45.2°F | 6°F | 83°F | 29.6 | – | May 1 |
| Sioux Falls Weather Office Airport USC00397666 | 3 mi N | 1,430 ft | 46.6°F | 7°F | 85°F | 28.3 | – | April 26 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for each station. Last frost: the median last spring date of 32°F.
Questions about Sioux Falls's climate
What is the coldest month in Sioux Falls?
January, with a normal high of 27°F and a normal low of 9°F. The warmest is July (85°F by day, 63°F at night).
Does it snow in Sioux Falls?
Yes: 45 inches in a normal year, falling on 33 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in December (8.7 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Sioux Falls?
June, with 4.23 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.60 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Sioux Falls in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Sioux Falls in zone 5a across its 7 ZIP code areas (5a in 57104, the largest). By the same method at Sioux Falls'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 Sioux Falls?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 1; in one year in ten it comes after May 14. Waiting until May 14 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Sioux Falls in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- South Dakota climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Canton, SD21 miles from this station, 45.7°F a year
- Montrose, SD29 miles from this station, 45.5°F a year
- Rock Rapids, IA30 miles from this station, 46.0°F a year
- Salem, SD31 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