Do you need a snowblower in Rapid City, SD?
What clears snow in Rapid City
Two-stage snowblower
A storm of 10 inches or more hits Rapid City about once every 2 winters. That is deeper than a single-stage intake can swallow.
Before you buy, measure the garage door and the storage spot: these machines are wide and heavy.
What a Rapid City winter brings
- Snow a year
- 54 in
- Storms of 5 in or more
- 2.3 a winter
- Storms of 10 in or more
- about once every 2 winters
- Days with snow on the ground
- 46
Heavy, more than most snowy cities. That is about 1.5 times what a typical snowy US city gets. It tends to stay, so each storm lands on the last one.
On a two car driveway that is about 7.0 tons of snow to move in a season, and a 10 inch storm weighs 2,600 pounds.
When the snow comes in Rapid City
- Sep0.1
- Oct3.4
- Nov6.5
- Dec6.6
- Jan5.3
- Feb9.1
- Mar10.4
- Apr10.0
- May2.2
- Jun0.1
Snow worth clearing runs from October to May, heaviest in March. Start and service a machine in September.
Rapid City and its neighbours
Rapid City is number 2 of 14 South Dakota towns here for snowfall; Spearfish gets the most at 71 inches.
| Town | Miles | Snow | Two car, paved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Box Elder, SD | 7 | 49 in | Gas single-stage |
| Spearfish, SD | 41 | 71 in | Two-stage snowblower |
| Gillette, WY | 114 | 56 in | Gas single-stage |
| Pierre, SD | 145 | 37 in | Cordless single-stage |
| Scottsbluff, NE | 154 | 40 in | Gas single-stage |
| Casper, WY | 177 | 82 in | Two-stage snowblower |
Where these numbers come from
Read next: Single-stage or two-stage and Why storm depth matters more than snowfall.
NOAA 1991 to 2020 climate normals from Rapid City Wfo, 0.4 miles from Rapid City. A normal winter, not this winter's forecast. Snow is weighed at 6.24 pounds a cubic foot, fresh and fairly dry; wet spring snow can weigh three times that.