South Dakota snow day predictor
Off season - the 10 towns ranked by how much snow they get · Spearfish averages 71 in a year, Brookings 36 in
South Dakota towns, ranked
- Spearfishaverages 71 inches a year · heavy snow
- Rapid Cityaverages 54 inches a year · regular snow
- Box Elderaverages 49 inches a year · regular snow
- Sioux Fallsaverages 45 inches a year · regular snow
- Huronaverages 44 inches a year · regular snow
- Aberdeenaverages 43 inches a year · regular snow
- Watertownaverages 41 inches a year · regular snow
- Mitchellaverages 41 inches a year · regular snow
- Yanktonaverages 38 inches a year · regular snow
- Brookingsaverages 36 inches a year · regular snow
How snow days work in South Dakota
There is no single South Dakota snow day threshold, which is why this page scores each town separately. Spearfish averages 71 inches of snow a year against Brookings’s 36, and a district that plans for the first amount does not close for weather that would shut the second one down.
Each score compares what the National Weather Service is forecasting against that town’s own NOAA 1991-2020 snowfall normal, then adds weight for ice, wind and dangerous cold. Every number on this page links through to the full factor breakdown, because the reasoning is the part worth checking.
Sources: National Weather Service forecasts, one per town. Snowfall normals from NOAA’s 1991-2020 US Climate Normals. County lines from the US Census Bureau.