South Dakota climate

South Dakota Plant Hardiness Zones

South Dakota’s towns run from zone 4a to zone 5b: the average coldest winter night is -14.2°F at North Spearfish and -25.9°F at Castlewood.

Hardiness zones in South Dakota

In USDA’s colors, neighboring states washed out. Zones follow elevation, coasts and cities down to half a mile. Drawn by WeatherOverTime from the USDA-ARS and Oregon State University PRISM Climate Group 2023 GIS data; this is not the official USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.

Map of the 2023 plant hardiness zones across South Dakota, from zone 4a to zone 5b, with the state’s border drawn.
  • 4a
  • 4b
  • 5a
  • 5b

Open the live map with plant hardiness zones

Towns by zone

Each town’s 1991-2020 average annual extreme minimum at its center, read from the map’s 800 m grid. Warmest zone first.

5b Zone 5b, -15 to -10°F 11 towns

5a Zone 5a, -20 to -15°F 78 towns

4b Zone 4b, -25 to -20°F 58 towns

4a Zone 4a, -30 to -25°F 5 towns

Counties

At the county’s center; a county with hills or a coast spans several zones.

CountyZone at the centerAverage coldest night
Aurora County5a-18.2°F
Beadle County4b-22.2°F
Bennett County5a-17.8°F
Bon Homme County5a-15.9°F
Brookings County4b-22.3°F
Brown County4a-26°F
Brule County5a-18.7°F
Buffalo County4b-22.1°F
Butte County5a-19.7°F
Campbell County4b-24.6°F
Charles Mix County5a-16.1°F
Clark County4b-23.2°F
Clay County5a-17.8°F
Codington County4b-23.9°F
Corson County4b-23.5°F
Custer County5b-14.3°F
Davison County5a-18.3°F
Day County4b-23.7°F
Deuel County4b-22.6°F
Dewey County4b-21.5°F
Douglas County5a-16.9°F
Edmunds County4b-23.3°F
Fall River County5a-18.2°F
Faulk County4b-22.4°F
Grant County4b-22.6°F
Gregory County5a-15.9°F
Haakon County5a-19.1°F
Hamlin County4b-24.3°F
Hand County4b-21.2°F
Hanson County5a-18.2°F
Harding County4b-24.1°F
Hughes County4b-21.9°F
Hutchinson County5a-18.3°F
Hyde County4b-23.5°F
Jackson County5a-19.2°F
Jerauld County5a-16.8°F
Jones County5a-17.3°F
Kingsbury County4b-20.7°F
Lake County4b-20.9°F
Lawrence County5b-14.8°F
Lincoln County5a-19.7°F
Lyman County4b-20.4°F
Marshall County4a-25.3°F
McCook County5a-19.6°F
McPherson County4b-23.9°F
Meade County4b-20.6°F
Mellette County5a-18.8°F
Miner County5a-19.8°F
Minnehaha County5a-20°F
Moody County4b-22°F
Oglala Lakota County5a-18.7°F
Pennington County5a-17.8°F
Perkins County4b-21.5°F
Potter County4b-21.4°F
Roberts County4b-22.4°F
Sanborn County4b-20.9°F
Spink County4b-24.5°F
Stanley County4b-20.5°F
Sully County4b-22.2°F
Todd County5a-16.9°F
Tripp County5a-15.1°F
Turner County5a-18.5°F
Union County5a-17.9°F
Walworth County4b-23.1°F
Yankton County5a-16.6°F
Ziebach County4b-20.6°F

The zones

A plant hardiness zone is set by the average of each winter’s single coldest temperature, 1991 to 2020: zones are 10°F apart and each half zone, a and b, 5°F. It says how cold a winter night usually gets, not the coldest it has ever been, and nothing about summer heat, rain or soil. Plant labels give the coldest zone a perennial survives in.

ZoneAverage coldest nightIn Celsius
4a-30 to -25°F-34.4 to -31.7°C
4b-25 to -20°F-31.7 to -28.9°C
5a-20 to -15°F-28.9 to -26.1°C
5b-15 to -10°F-26.1 to -23.3°C

Sources

Hardiness zones: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, 2023, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, from the GIS data of the PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, which may be freely reproduced and redistributed. Drawn by WeatherOverTime from the USDA-ARS and Oregon State University PRISM Climate Group 2023 GIS data; this is not the official USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.