#1Spearfish
Lawrence County · 14,154 peopleJanuary low·July high 86°·144 freezing nights a year
Spearfish, #1 on this list · Photo: JERRYE AND ROY KLOTZ MD · CC BY-SA 3.0South Dakota rankings · Climate
Towns with the mildest winters in South Dakota
Spearfish has the mildest winters of South Dakota’s 37 towns of 2,500+: January nights average a low of 15° (NOAA 1991–2020 normals). The typical town here averages 10°; none of the 37 stay above freezing.
The average January low. 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
#115°
Blackhawk
unincorporated, Meade County · 2,934 peopleJanuary low·July high 83°·170 freezing nights a year
Summerset
Meade County · 3,030 peopleJanuary low·July high 84°·170 freezing nights a year
All 37 towns
January low, highest first. Towns with the same figure share a rank (T = tied; 14 towns here).
37 towns ranked. Not here? See why a town may be missing.
#TownJanuary lowNights ≤32°July high
Quick answers
Questions people ask
Which South Dakota town has the mildest winters?
Spearfish (Lawrence County): January nights average a low of 15°. Blackhawk (14°) and Summerset (14°) follow.
How are these towns ranked?
By the average January low (the coldest month’s nights), highest 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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