Yankton, South Dakota climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Yankton's normal year runs from 10°F January nights to 87°F July afternoons, with 28.7 inches of precipitation and 38 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 9.3°C, January lows of −12°C, July highs of 31°C, 728 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationYankton (2 mi E)
- Station IDUSW00094911
- Location42.88°N 97.36°W
- Elevation1,180 ft (360 m)
- Population15,670
On October 22, the normal high in Yankton is 60°F and the normal low 36°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 Yankton.
- Jan 30° 10°
- Feb 35° 14°
- Mar 47° 25°
- Apr 60° 35°
- May 72° 48°
- Jun 82° 59°
- Jul 87° 64°
- Aug 85° 62°
- Sep 78° 52°
- Oct 63° 39°
- Nov 47° 25°
- Dec 34° 15°
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 Yankton each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 87°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 10°F. The most precipitation falls in June (4.03 in), the least in January (0.65 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30°F | 10°F | 20.2°F | 0.65 | 6.7 | 5 | <1 | 31 | 9 h 20 min |
| February | 35°F | 14°F | 24.6°F | 0.91 | 8.5 | 5 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 30 min |
| March | 47°F | 25°F | 35.9°F | 1.60 | 4.7 | 6 | <1 | 24 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 60°F | 35°F | 47.7°F | 3.36 | 3.7 | 9 | <1 | 12 | 13 h 20 min |
| May | 72°F | 48°F | 59.8°F | 3.68 | 0.2 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 14 h 40 min |
| June | 82°F | 59°F | 70.7°F | 4.03 | 0.0 | 11 | 7 | <1 | 15 h 20 min |
| July | 87°F | 64°F | 75.4°F | 3.46 | 0.0 | 8 | 12 | <1 | 15 h |
| August | 85°F | 62°F | 73.1°F | 3.26 | 0.0 | 9 | 8 | <1 | 14 h |
| September | 78°F | 52°F | 64.8°F | 2.85 | 0.0 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 63°F | 39°F | 50.9°F | 2.56 | 0.8 | 7 | <1 | 9 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 47°F | 25°F | 36.2°F | 1.27 | 5.9 | 5 | <1 | 24 | 9 h 50 min |
| December | 34°F | 15°F | 24.5°F | 1.03 | 7.6 | 5 | <1 | 30 | 9 h |
| Year (annual) | 60°F | 37°F | 48.7°F | 28.66 | 38.1 | 88 | 33 | 158 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −1°C | −12°C | −6.6°C | 17 mm | 17 cm |
| February | 2°C | −10°C | −4.1°C | 23 mm | 22 cm |
| March | 8°C | −4°C | 2.2°C | 41 mm | 12 cm |
| April | 16°C | 2°C | 8.7°C | 85 mm | 9 cm |
| May | 22°C | 9°C | 15.4°C | 93 mm | 1 cm |
| June | 28°C | 15°C | 21.5°C | 102 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 31°C | 18°C | 24.1°C | 88 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 29°C | 16°C | 22.8°C | 83 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 25°C | 11°C | 18.2°C | 72 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 17°C | 4°C | 10.5°C | 65 mm | 2 cm |
| November | 8°C | −4°C | 2.3°C | 32 mm | 15 cm |
| December | 1°C | −9°C | −4.2°C | 26 mm | 19 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00094911; 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 Yankton?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, August and September. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (7).
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 USW00094911.
When is the last frost in Yankton?
In Yankton, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 27 in half of years and after May 10 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 11 in half of years and before September 27 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
- April 271 year in 10 after May 10; 9 in 10 after April 13
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 111 year in 10 before September 27; 9 in 10 before October 23
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 164 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 184 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 18 in half of springs and before October 21 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Yankton in zone 5a in ZIP code 57078, the nearest ZIP area.
Frost dates for every NOAA station in South Dakota · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USW00094911; USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026. 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 Yankton?
In a normal year in Yankton, 33 days a year reach 90°F (2 of them 100°F or more), 158 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 88 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 33a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 2a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 158a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 53high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 88a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 13a normal year
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USW00094911.
How sunny is Yankton?
Over a year 77% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Yankton, 4.2 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (85%) and December the cloudiest (69%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 73% | 2.0 |
| February | 76% | 3.0 |
| March | 71% | 3.9 |
| April | 71% | 5.0 |
| May | 73% | 5.8 |
| June | 79% | 6.6 |
| July | 85% | 6.7 |
| August | 82% | 5.7 |
| September | 80% | 4.5 |
| October | 75% | 3.2 |
| November | 75% | 2.2 |
| December | 69% | 1.7 |
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 Yankton need?
A normal year in Yankton brings 6,884 heating degree days, 28% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 963 cooling degree days, 6% more 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 3,169 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,389 | 0 |
| February | 1,133 | 0 |
| March | 904 | 1 |
| April | 525 | 6 |
| May | 214 | 53 |
| June | 29 | 198 |
| July | 4 | 328 |
| August | 9 | 262 |
| September | 112 | 105 |
| October | 447 | 10 |
| November | 863 | 0 |
| December | 1,257 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 6,884 | 963 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00094911. 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 Yankton been warmer than normal lately?
2024 averaged 51.0°F, 2.3°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 48.7°F. 2 of the 3 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 50.7°F | +2.0°F | 14.89 | – |
| 2022 | 48.4°F | −0.3°F | – | – |
| 2024 | 51.0°F | +2.3°F | 23.21 | – |
Over 111 complete years from 1890 to 2024, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 2.2°F per century (+0.12°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USW00094911; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Yankton's climate compare?
Yankton is warmer than 92 of the other 99 places with their own NOAA record in South Dakota, and wetter than 92. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 48.7°F is warmer than 35%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Yankton 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 Yankton share this climate record?
7 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.
- Gayville, SD379 people · 10 mi E
- Mission Hill, SD182 people · 5 mi NE
- Volin, SD159 people · 11 mi NE
- Fordyce, NE134 people · 12 mi S
- Bow Valley, NE108 people · 13 mi SE
- St. Helena, NE89 people · 7 mi SE
- Aten, NE85 people · 5 mi SW
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 Yankton's climate
What is the coldest month in Yankton?
January, with a normal high of 30°F and a normal low of 10°F. The warmest is July (87°F by day, 64°F at night).
Does it snow in Yankton?
Yes: 38 inches in a normal year, falling on 17 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in February (8.5 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Yankton?
June, with 4.03 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.65 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Yankton in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Yankton in zone 5a in ZIP code 57078, the nearest ZIP area.
How late can frost come in Yankton?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 27; in one year in ten it comes after May 10. Waiting until May 10 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
- Crofton, NE12 miles from this station, 48.1°F a year
- Hartington, NE19 miles from this station, 47.8°F a year
- Vermillion, SD24 miles from this station, 48.8°F a year
- Centerville, SD26 miles from this station, 46.4°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made