Wasta, SD Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Annual temperature and rainfall from NOAA NCEI's 1991–2020 normals →; comfort score computed by PlainClimate
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Wasta's primary NOAA station, WASTA.
The climate verdict for Wasta
Dryness leads the climate profile for Wasta, South Dakota, with 17.6 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 48°F. At 49/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 18% of scores.
- 48°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 49/100
- comfort score, above 18% of station-mapped location scores
- 17.6"
- annual precipitation · 30" snow
- 144 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Wasta: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00398911 · Wasta, SD 48°F mean · 17.6" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-WIDE · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 48°F
- RANK-COOL #2,127
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Hartington
- PRCP-DRY 17.6"
- SWING-WIDE 52°F
- COMF-LOW 49/100
- LOAD-HEAT 7,065 HDD
- STN-1 USC00398911
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Hartington, NE (+ 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.
- Wasta (this station) 48°F
- Cold Oelwein, IA 48°F
- Hot Hartington, NE 48°F
- Near Verdel, NE 48°F
- Near Bonesteel, SD 48°F
Climate Living Index · Wasta
Wasta: 28/100 · grade F
Wasta publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Wasta, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 49/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 17.6 in · 17.4 from 35 in | 38/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 30.4 inches/year | 38/100 · F |
| Annual temperature balance | 47.8°F · 19.7° from 67.5°F | 31/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 144 days/year | 21/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 194 calendar days | 17/100 · F |
Wasta · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Wasta'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
- 74.6°F
- Coldest month
- 22.2°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 Wasta sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Wasta's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- 31st percentile warmth
- Mid-pack annual mean versus 6,861 station normals.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 77%
- Wasta's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 87%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Wasta is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Wasta compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Wasta's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
49 18th percentile score exceeds 18% 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
Wasta's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 48 complete annual observations from 1953 to 2025, WASTA warmed at a fitted rate of 0.18°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Wasta primary station fitted change +0.18 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35°F (2°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 22°F (-5°C) | 0.3" | 3.8" | 30.7 | 0.0 |
| February | 39°F (4°C) | 13°F (-11°C) | 26°F (-3°C) | 0.5" | 6.4" | 27.1 | 0.0 |
| March | 50°F (10°C) | 22°F (-5°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 0.9" | 5.5" | 26.4 | 0.0 |
| April | 60°F (16°C) | 33°F (0°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 1.9" | 3.7" | 15.1 | 0.3 |
| May | 70°F (21°C) | 44°F (6°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 3.5" | 0.1" | 2.9 | 1.2 |
| June | 80°F (27°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 67°F (20°C) | 2.7" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 5.8 |
| July | 89°F (32°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 75°F (24°C) | 2.3" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 13.9 |
| August | 88°F (31°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 73°F (23°C) | 1.6" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 14.8 |
| September | 79°F (26°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 1.2" | 0.0" | 1.4 | 6.8 |
| October | 63°F (17°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 1.8" | 1.1" | 14.3 | 0.7 |
| November | 49°F (9°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 0.6" | 4.2" | 26.8 | 0.0 |
| December | 37°F (3°C) | 12°F (-11°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 0.3" | 5.6" | 30.8 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Wasta works both ends of the calendar. Normal highs climb to 90°F by July 25 and hold at or above 90°F on 17 dates, then normal lows drop to freezing or below on 177 dates, bottoming at 9°F around January 3.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from July 20 through August 5, covering 17 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs May 17 to October 3.
This counts calendar dates whose 1991–2020 normal high reaches 90°F. It is a smaller number than the 90°F+ day counts in the monthly table above, which measure how often the threshold was actually crossed in a typical year. A date can average 88°F and still exceed 90°F in half of all years.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 13, then returns to freezing around October 20, covering 177 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 3, when 32% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is December 3 at 9%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 62 wet dates a year.
The widest day
September 8 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 32°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Wasta.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 3.8"
2.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 6.4"
3.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 5.5"
3.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 3.7"
6.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.1"
8.7 days with precipitation
9.1 days with precipitation
6.7 days with precipitation
5.5 days with precipitation
4.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.1"
5.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.2"
2.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 5.6"
2.8 days with precipitation
Wasta runs a summer-peaked wet season
37% of Wasta'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 May at 3.5", on a wide 52.4°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: May, June, July, taking 49% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: January at 0.3".
- Winter share: 6% 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 Wasta's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 62 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 17.7" between them, or roughly 0.29 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.
Winter brings real snow to Wasta
Wasta averages 30.4 inches of snowfall a year, with February the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 13 days that record measurable snow. That is depth accumulating on the ground, which is why it can exceed the annual precipitation figure: precipitation counts the liquid the snow melts down to, and fresh snow is mostly air.
- Annual snowfall: 30.4 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 13 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 17% of the year's precipitation.
NOAA 1991-2020 normals. The ten-to-one ratio is a convention, not a measurement: real ratios vary with temperature, so treat the share as an order of magnitude rather than an exact split.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
October 1
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 10
50% probability date
Growing Season
144 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
7,065
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
819
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside SD closest to Wasta 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 (48°F here).
- Alliance, NE 48°F · 0.0°F off
- Broadwater, NE 48°F · 0.0°F off
- Chugwater, WY 48°F · 0.0°F off
- Colo, IA 48°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (17.6" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Foxholm, ND 17.6" · 0.0" off
- Jackson, WY 17.6" · 0.0" off
- Pomeroy, WA 17.6" · 0.0" off
- Lusk, WY 17.7" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Wasta
heating led · dry · mid swing
Wasta's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 7,065 annual heating degree days against 819 for cooling. Its 52.4°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 144 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.
-
1. Wasta coldest normal
January
Averaging 22°F (-5°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Wasta typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Wasta snow peak
February
Wasta averages 30.4 inches of snow a year, with February the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Wasta's climate
How much snow does Wasta get? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Wasta get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Wasta? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Wasta's primary station: WASTA (USC00398911). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The 2024 Census Gazetteer identifies the exact name-and-state match as an incorporated place (GEOID 4669140). Match rule for Wasta: exact normalized name + state only, no fuzzy expansion, so nearby differently spelled facilities stay unmatched.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Wasta 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.