Data for about 70 stations are collected by the NWS Sioux Falls WSO and processed by the Office of Weather and Climate, SDSU Ag and Biosystems Engineering Department. The weekly data are and presented as NWS Weekly Data typically NLT Wednesday of the following week.
The 70+ stations and 100 other cooperative stations (172 in all) in South Dakota are reported monthly to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in Asheville, NC. These data are entered by NCDC and available as preliminary data before it is quality controlled. It is presented in the NCDC Prelim Data on this site about 20-30 days after last day of the month.
NCDC thoroughly quality controls the data and it is then considered the official published record. It is presented in the NCDC Final Data on this site about 3-4 months. It is also available from NCDC as a published document in paper and PDF file. The monthly and annual precipitation data for the period of record is conveniently available from NCDC on this page.
The published information can be found in some South Dakota Libraries. The
South Dakota Library Network can be searched
to find the nearest library with the document. Search for a key term with
South Dakota Climat# data, or [city] Climat# data.
Unofficial daily precipititation and maximum/minimum temperature data for the current year and earlier years are available for most stations for the entire period of record by special request from the SD Climate Office in electronic and paper documents. Official copies of the NCDC records can be made and certified by the State Climatologist on request.
The data presented in the tables in this section is for information purposes only. It should be used with caution as it contains estimated data that is not verified by observational records. The observational records are not available until approximately 20 days after the end of the month.
The tables presented before documented data are received are called Preliminary Estimates. The estimates may be based on a limited number of observation at other stations. Data Summaries are based on the actual observations at the station and are called Initial, Preliminary, or Final Data Summaries as the quality of the data are improved through quality control procedures.
If the information is to be used in any official way, the data must be obtained from NNDC or certified by the State Climatologist. It may be available in preliminary form as early as the previous day. The link to NCDC is below.
The data presented in the tables in this section is for information purposes only. The preliminary data has not been fully quality controlled but are the best data available at this time. It should be used with caution as it contains missing data that may not have been available until approximately 90 days after the end of the month. If the data is to be used in any official way, the data must be obtained from NNDC or certified by the State Climatologist. The link to NCDC is below.
The data presented in the tables in this section is for information purposes only. It should be used with caution as it contains missing data that is not available until approximately 150 days after the end of the month. If the data is to be used in any official way, the data must be obtained from NCDC or certified by the state climatologist. The link to NCDC is below.
The data presented in the tables in this section is for information purposes only. It should be used with caution as it contains missing data that is not available until approximately 150 days after the end of the month. If the data is to be used in any official way, the data must be obtained from NCDC or certified by the state climatologist. The link to NCDC is below.
Monthly data summaries for all South Dakota Coop stations for years beginning in 1991 are listed below. Daily data are available for the period of record both from the SD Climate office an the National Climatic Data Center as described below .
NCDC has developed a service that enables you to pick a station in the state, choose the month, and select an output format for your use. There is a charge for this service for most users.
NCDC has developed a service that enables you to pick a station in the state, choose the month, and select an output format for your use. There is a charge for this service for most users.
The NCDC site is the official source of 1999
monthly data. Local processing of NCDC Final and NCDC Preliminary data will
still take place to add to the South Dakota Climate data base. The data will
be available as it is processed and published--look below for it.
All data summaries presented here have been derived from daily data.
The SD computer data set is maintained by the Al Bender, State Climatologist
These data are for information purposes and unofficial
use only.
