#1Lead
Lawrence County · 3,064 peopleJuly high·January low 14°·6 days of 90°+ a year
Lead, #1 on this list · Photo: Gary Chancey, Black Hills National Forest · Public domainSouth Dakota rankings · Climate
Towns with the coolest summers in South Dakota
Lead has the coolest summers of South Dakota’s 37 towns of 2,500+: July afternoons average a high of 81° (NOAA 1991–2020 normals). The typical town here averages 85°; none of the 37 stay under 80°.
The average July high. NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020, from NOAA’s 5 km grid at each town’s center; one town for each grid cell. A described list: no letters. How grades work
#181°
#2Watertown
Codington County · 23,736 peopleJuly high·January low 2°·9 days of 90°+ a year
#3Sisseton
Roberts County · 2,413 peopleJuly high·January low 2°·11 days of 90°+ a year
All 37 towns
July high, lowest first. Towns with the same figure share a rank (T = tied; 16 towns here).
37 towns ranked. Not here? See why a town may be missing.
#TownJuly highDays ≥90°January low
Quick answers
Questions people ask
Which South Dakota town has the coolest summers?
Lead (Lawrence County): July afternoons average a high of 81°. Watertown (81°) and Sisseton (82°) follow.
How are these towns ranked?
By the average July high (the warmest month’s afternoons), lowest first, on NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals, read from its 5 km grid at each town’s center. Towns with the same figure share a rank (T); the figure and the state rank are the ones on each town’s Climate page. How grades work.
Why isn’t my town on this list?
The list covers towns of 2,500+ residents, one for each of NOAA’s 5 km grid cells (37 in South Dakota): where towns share a cell, one of them stands for it, since the grid gives them the same figures. Every town’s own figures are on its Climate page. Every town is on the South Dakota page.
Go deeper
All South Dakota rankings →More South Dakota lists
Every list ranks the same 2,500+ towns, so a town’s rank means the same thing on each.
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