South Dakota Air Quality

An Air Quality Alert is issued by the National Weather Service on behalf of a state or local agency when pollution is expected to reach a level that harms health. An Air Stagnation Advisory means the air will not move enough to clear what is already in it.

None are in force in South Dakota right now. All South Dakota warnings.

Every AirNow reporting area in South Dakota: what its monitors measured this hour, and what the state or local agency that forecasts for it expects today and tomorrow. Each area links to the nearest town’s page.

NOAA’s analysts have not drawn wildfire smoke over any town in South Dakota today.

Smoke on the radar over South Dakota

The index runs from 0 to 500. Good is 0 to 50, Moderate to 100, Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups to 150, Unhealthy to 200, Very Unhealthy to 300, and Hazardous above that. The figure reported for a place is the highest index among the pollutants measured there, and the pollutant that produced it is named beside it.

What these numbers are. An index beside a monitor’s name is a measurement, published hourly by AirNow and preliminary until the operating agency certifies it. A category for today or tomorrow is a state or local agency forecaster’s own forecast for a reporting area. An hourly index is NOAA’s air quality model on a five-kilometer grid, not a reading from any instrument. Where a town has no monitor within reach, only the model figures appear, and the page says so.

Air quality for any town in South Dakota: what is measured nearby, the category forecast for today and tomorrow, and NOAA’s model hour by hour. Largest first.

• Sioux Falls171,544 people
• Rapid City73,569 people
• Aberdeen28,102 people
• Brookings23,657 people
• Watertown22,073 people
• Mitchell15,669 people
• Yankton14,557 people
• Pierre14,091 people
• Huron13,313 people
• Spearfish11,283 people
• Vermillion10,738 people
• Brandon9,856 people
• Box Elder9,289 people
• Rapid Valley8,260 people
• Ellsworth Air Force Base8,000 people
• Madison7,258 people
• Sturgis6,688 people
• Belle Fourche5,696 people
• Harrisburg5,498 people
• Tea4,839 people
• Dell Rapids3,706 people
• Hot Springs3,532 people
• Mobridge3,466 people
• Canton3,331 people
• Pine Ridge3,308 people
• Milbank3,192 people
• Hartford3,025 people
• Lead2,999 people
• Blackhawk2,892 people
• Winner2,825 people
• North Sioux City2,731 people
• Dakota Dunes2,540 people
• Colonial Pine Hills2,493 people
• Sisseton2,450 people
• Chamberlain2,386 people
• Redfield2,379 people
• Flandreau2,303 people
• North Spearfish2,285 people
• Lennox2,272 people
• Summerset2,239 people
• Fort Pierre2,117 people
• Elk Point2,075 people
• Beresford1,976 people
• North Eagle Butte1,954 people
• Springfield1,953 people
• Custer1,952 people
• Volga1,865 people
• Webster1,802 people
• Wagner1,589 people
• Rosebud1,587 people
• Groton1,508 people
• Parkston1,488 people
• Miller1,437 people
• Crooks1,329 people
• Salem1,325 people
• Eagle Butte1,318 people
• Oglala1,290 people
• Freeman1,287 people
• Fort Thompson1,282 people
• Clear Lake1,273 people
• Platte1,266 people
• Deadwood1,258 people
• Gregory1,254 people
• Britton1,242 people
• Lemmon1,232 people
• Mission1,215 people
• Garretson1,201 people
• Gettysburg1,164 people
• Baltic1,132 people
• De Smet1,072 people
• Porcupine1,062 people
• Martin1,061 people
• Clark1,050 people
• Tyndall1,049 people

Smaller places have pages too; search for one on the air quality landing page.

Observations and daily forecasts from AirNow, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s program with NOAA, the National Park Service, NASA, tribal, state and local agencies. Hourly forecasts from NOAA’s National Air Quality Forecast Capability. Smoke analysis from NOAA’s Hazard Mapping System. Alerts from the National Weather Service. Index categories and breakpoints are EPA’s, as revised in 2024.