Historic Weather Extremes in Sioux Falls & South Dakota

"Don't like the weather? Wait a few minutes."

I'm sure we all have grandpas and uncles who have said that phrase whenever there's a family get-together on a hot Sioux Falls summer day. But it's not unique to South Dakota; you could probably say the same for most of the country. Except maybe coastal California or Florida, where it's always sunny and 78 degrees. Except when it's 108 degrees.

Weather extremes are a part of life in South Dakota. We wake up in the morning to coats and boots and end the day in shorts and sandals. Just because it's nice today doesn't mean anything when tomorrow comes.

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The craziest weather day in South Dakota, so far, was in January 1943 when the temperature in Spearfish experienced a change in season over a few minutes. The day started at four degrees below zero. Then over the course of 120 seconds, the temperature shot up to 49 degrees. A few hours later, it was in the 50s for a little bit before it fell back to 4 below.

Spearfish is in the Black Hills of western South Dakota. Here on the east side of the state, in Sioux Falls, our weather records aren't quite as extreme. But we still get to feel the full spectrum of meteorological possibilities.

The Hottest Day in South Dakota

The record for the highest temperature ever recorded in South Dakota was 120 degrees. It got that hot near Ft Pierre in the middle of the state, July 15, 2006. That tied the July 6, 1936, record.

The hottest it's gotten in Sioux Falls is not quite as high. The record-high temperature recorded in Sioux Falls is 110 degrees during a miserable heatwave on June 21, 1988. That also ties a record from July 1936.
Read More: Sioux Falls’ Record High: How the 1988 Heatwave Made History

The Coldest Day in South Dakota

On the other end of the thermometer, South Dakota is lucky enough to experience the worst of the winter too. The coldest it's ever gotten in South Dakota was -58 degrees at McIntosh, SD, on February 17, 1936. That's 178 degrees difference from the state's record high!

For Sioux Falls, our coldest record is over a century old. Sioux Falls recorded a low temperature of -42 degrees on February 9, 1899. Don't let the age of that record fool ya. We still will get plenty of double-digit below-zero days every winter.

The Weather of 1936

Mother Nature kicked South Dakota's butt in 1936. So many of our extreme records come from that year:

South Dakota's Warmest Month: 87.7 degrees average (Pierre) in July 1936.

South Dakota's Coldest Month: -11.0 (Pollock) in February 1936. The winter of 35-36 was also the state's coldest overall.

The warmest summer overall was 1936 with an average temperature of 77 degrees.

1936 was the height of the Dust Bowl on the plains. That summer was bad all over. A nasty heatwave cooked the middle of the country, breaking records all over in July.