South Dakota · NWS UNR office

Rapid City, SD weather

It is 42°F and mostly clear at Ellsworth Air Force Base as of Oct 27, 10:55 PM MDT. Overnight: Mostly Cloudy, low near 40°F, 8% chance of precipitation. Forecast from the National Weather Service, issued Oct 27, 11:01 PM MDT.

Updated Oct 28, 12:20 AM MDT (snapshot)

Current conditions

Temperature

42°F

Mostly Clear · feels like 39°F

Wind

SW 5 mph

Humidity 78% · dew point 36°F

Pressure · visibility

—

Visibility 10 mi

Observed at Ellsworth Air Force Base (KRCA), Oct 27, 10:55 PM MDT. Station readings can lag or be missing.

Alerts for this area

No active NWS alerts cover the Rapid City forecast zone right now.

Around the NWS UNR forecast area

No active alerts in zones served by the UNR office near Rapid City.

From the alert snapshot of Oct 28, 2026, 2:15 AM EDT. No alerts are active anywhere in South Dakota.

For official warnings, check weather.gov and your local authorities. OpenForecast repeats National Weather Service alerts and may be delayed or incomplete. Follow instructions from emergency officials.

Next 24 hours

Hourly forecast for Rapid City (local time)
TimeTempForecastPrecip. chanceWind
Wed 12 AM44°FPartly Cloudy6%SW 5 mph
Wed 1 AM44°FMostly Cloudy6%SW 3 mph
Wed 2 AM45°FMostly Cloudy8%SW 3 mph
Wed 3 AM44°FMostly Cloudy8%SW 3 mph
Wed 4 AM43°FMostly Cloudy6%W 3 mph
Wed 5 AM42°FMostly Cloudy6%W 3 mph
Wed 6 AM41°FMostly Cloudy9%NW 5 mph
Wed 7 AM41°FMostly Cloudy9%NW 5 mph
Wed 8 AM43°FPartly Sunny4%NW 6 mph
Wed 9 AM49°FMostly Sunny4%NW 6 mph
Wed 10 AM53°FSunny1%NW 8 mph
Wed 11 AM56°FSunny1%NW 10 mph
Wed 12 PM58°FSunny0%NW 13 mph
Wed 1 PM59°FSunny0%N 13 mph
Wed 2 PM61°FSunny0%N 10 mph
Wed 3 PM61°FSunny0%N 10 mph
Wed 4 PM60°FSunny0%NE 8 mph
Wed 5 PM55°FSunny0%E 6 mph
Wed 6 PM51°FClear0%E 5 mph
Wed 7 PM46°FClear0%S 2 mph
Wed 8 PM43°FClear0%S 2 mph
Wed 9 PM41°FClear0%SW 2 mph
Wed 10 PM40°FClear0%SW 3 mph
Wed 11 PM39°FClear0%SW 3 mph

Hourly values come from the NWS gridded forecast for the 2.5 km grid square that covers the city's center point. Conditions elsewhere in Rapid City can differ.

7-day forecast

Overnight

Low 40°F

Mostly cloudy. Low around 40, with temperatures rising to around 42 overnight. West wind around 5 mph.

Wednesday

High 62°F·Low 36°F

Mostly sunny. High near 62, with temperatures falling to around 55 in the afternoon. North wind 5 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Wednesday Night: Mostly clear. Low around 36, with temperatures rising to around 38 overnight. South wind around 5 mph.

Thursday

High 62°F·Low 38°F

Sunny. High near 62, with temperatures falling to around 55 in the afternoon. Southeast wind around 7 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph.

Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 38. Northwest wind around 3 mph.

Friday

High 55°F·Low 46°F

Partly sunny. High near 55, with temperatures falling to around 52 in the afternoon. East wind 2 to 9 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph.

Friday Night: A chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 46.

Saturday

High 64°F·Low 45°F

A slight chance of rain before noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 64.

Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 45.

Sunday

High 61°F·Low 44°F

A chance of rain after 11am. Partly sunny, with a high near 61.

Sunday Night: Rain likely. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 44.

Monday

High 51°F·Low 38°F

Rain likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 51.

Monday Night: Rain likely before 11pm, then rain and snow likely. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 38.

Tuesday

High 51°F

A chance of rain and snow. Partly sunny, with a high near 51.

Nearby cities

See every city we cover in South Dakota, or check all active alerts.

About this forecast

Forecast office
Rapid City is served by the National Weather Service UNR forecast office, forecast zone SDZ026, county zone SDC103.
Location used
The Census Bureau's internal point for Rapid City (44.0711, -103.2179), in Pennington County. Population: 79,894 (2024 estimate), number 2 of the 5 South Dakota cities on this site.
Radar
Nearest NWS radar: KUDX. View it on radar.weather.gov.

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Sources

  • Forecast, hourly forecast, observations and alerts: National Weather Service API, api.weather.gov/points/44.0711,-103.2179 (forecast issued Oct 27, 11:01 PM MDT).
  • Official forecast page: forecast.weather.gov.
  • City location and population: U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2024 population estimates and 2024 Gazetteer files.
  • Snapshot taken Oct 28, 2026. The NWS and Census Bureau do not endorse OpenForecast.

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