Rapid City, SD Weather Forecast
Pennington County, South Dakota
Live radar, warnings and storm tracking for Rapid City, with free alerts the moment it counts.
The next few hours
Taller, warmer bars mean heavier rain. Dotted means no reading for that hour.
Hour by hour
Sunrise and sunset
Next five days, scored 0 to 100The first day or two use the HRRR and NBM cloud layers. Later days only have total cloud, so treat them as a rough guide.
Know when sunset at this place will be worth a photo
We score every sunrise and sunset here from the cloud, haze and smoke forecast, and let you know when one is likely to light up. Sunrise the evening before, sunset a few hours ahead.
Seven-day outlook
Free alerts for Rapid City
Every NWS warning, pushed to your phone, inbox or webhook the moment it is issued.
Rapid City, SD at a glance
Rapid City is home to about 79,404 people in Pennington County, across 55 square miles. It ranks 2nd by population of 28 places in South Dakota with a forecast here. The nearest neighbour with its own forecast is Box Elder, 7 miles away.
- County
- Pennington County
- Population
- 79,404 2023 est.
- Land area
- 55 sq mi
- People per sq mi
- 1,442
- Forecast point
- 44.0711°N, 103.2179°W
How well can the network see Rapid City?
The nearest Doppler radar is KUDX (Rapid City, SD), to the E. Its lowest scan passes about 1,100 ft above Rapid City. That is about as close as US radar coverage gets: low-level rotation and gust fronts over Rapid City show up clearly. Rapid City is closer to its radar than 85% of US cities.
The closest weather station is KRCA (Ellsworth AFB). Representative on most days, though a thunderstorm can hit one and miss the other.
Forecasts near Rapid City
- Box Elder, SD7 mi
- Summerset, SD10 mi
- Sturgis, SD27 mi
- Lead, SD33 mi
- Spearfish, SD42 mi
- Hot Springs, SD47 mi
- Newcastle, WY51 mi
- Belle Fourche, SD52 mi
Elsewhere in South Dakota
Sioux FallsAberdeenBrookingsWatertownYanktonMitchellAll South Dakota forecasts →