Cost to Own
United StatesSouth DakotaHarding CountyClimate Station BUFFALO ASOS, SD US Distance 3.5 mi Normals 1991 to 2020
This weather has a price Keeping the median Harding County home comfortable runs roughly $501 a year in heating and cooling alone. See where it lands in the monthly bill

30-year climate normals

Harding County Climate and Weather Averages

Hottest month: July

86.1°

average daily high. The coldest month is January, averaging a low of 10.7°F.

Harding County gets 13.45" of precipitation a year, and 50% of it falls in May, Jun, Jul.

Temperature through the year

Each bar spans the average daily low to the average daily high for that month.

20° 40° 60° 80° JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
MonthAvg highAvg low Precip
January 31.6° 10.7° 0.31"
February 33.8° 12.9° 0.41"
March 44.9° 22.1° 0.53"
April 55.6° 31.3° 1.44"
May 66.3° 41.9° 2.47"
June 77.0° 51.6° 2.11"
July 86.1° 58.1° 2.16"
August 85.0° 55.9° 1.13"
September 74.9° 46.3° 1.13"
October 58.1° 33.7° 1.09"
November 44.3° 21.5° 0.32"
December 33.9° 13.3° 0.35"

Rainfall by month

Harding County has a distinct wet season. 50% of the year's precipitation arrives in May, Jun, Jul.

January 0.31"
February 0.41"
March 0.53"
April 1.44"
May 2.47"
June 2.11"
July 2.16"
August 1.13"
September 1.13"
October 1.09"
November 0.32"
December 0.35"
Annual total 13.45"

What this climate costs you

Degree days measure how hard a building has to work to stay comfortable. They are the reason two identical houses have very different power bills, and they are the link between the weather here and what you pay every month.

Cooling degree days How much air conditioning the climate demands 580
Heating degree days How much heating the climate demands 7,669
Approximate annual cooling cost At 15.36¢/kWh, South Dakota average $89
Approximate annual electric heating cost Lower where heating is gas rather than electric $412

These are rough planning figures from degree days and the state electricity price, not a bill estimate. House size, insulation and fuel type move them a lot. See the full cost of owning a home in Harding County, where electricity is one line of eight.

Common questions

What is the weather like in Harding County?

Harding County averages a high of 86.1°F in July and a low of 10.7°F in January. Annual precipitation is 13.45 inches, with essentially no snow.

When is the rainy season in Harding County?

The wettest stretch is May, Jun, Jul, which accounts for 50% of the year's precipitation. That is a pronounced wet season rather than rain spread evenly through the year.

How hot does it get in Harding County?

The average daily high in July, the hottest month, is 86.1°F. That drives 580 cooling degree days a year, which is what your air conditioning has to work against.

Does it snow in Harding County?

The weather station used for Harding County, BUFFALO ASOS, SD US, reports temperature and precipitation but not snowfall, so there is no snow normal to quote here. Precipitation that falls as snow is still counted in the 13.45 inches above, measured as melted water.

Sources

  • Temperature, precipitation and snowfall normals: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, 1991 to 2020 Monthly Climate Normals, station BUFFALO ASOS, SD US (USW00094037), 3.5 miles from the county centroid.
  • Heating and cooling degree days: NOAA, same station and period.
  • Annual figures on this page are the sum of that station's twelve monthly normals. NOAA also publishes a separately-computed annual normal, which can differ from the monthly sum by a few percent; we use the monthly series because the month-by-month breakdown above has to come from it.
  • Electricity price: US Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly Table 5.6.A, South Dakota residential average.
  • Wet-season share is the wettest three consecutive months as a percentage of annual precipitation, calculated from the monthly normals.