South Dakota has an interior continental climate, with hot summers, extremely cold winters, high winds, and periodic droughts. The normal January temperature is 12°F (–11°C); the normal July temperature, 74°F (23°C). The record low temperature is –58°F (–50°C), set at McIntosh on 17 February 1936; the record high, 120°F (49°C), at Gannvalley on 5 July 1936.
Normal annual precipitation (1971–2000) averaged 24.7 in (62.7 cm) in Sioux Falls in the southeast, decreasing to less than 13 in (33 cm) in the northwest. Sioux Falls receives an average of 41 in (104 cm) of snow per year.