National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Strong to Severe Thunderstorms from the Southern Plains to the Ohio Valley; Heavy Rain and Flooding in the Southern Plains

Severe thunderstorms are expected from central Texas to middle Tennessee and Kentucky this afternoon into tonight. Large hail and damaging winds are the main threats. Heavy to excessive rainfall may produce areas of flooding today and tonight from central Texas into the lower Mississippi Valley. Read More >

Below is a listing of the climate records on New Year's Day for Rapid City, Gillette, Lead, Winner, Lemmon, Sundance, Spearfish, Newcastle, Hot Springs, and Custer. Record high temperatures have reached the 50s to mid-60s. Of these sites, Lemmon has been the coldest, dipping down to -31 degrees in 1928. In 1970, Lead had a whopping 35 inches of snow on the ground.

Also listed is the weather data for the past ten New Year's Days in Rapid City and Gillette. Very little snow has fallen on January 1st for the past decade, though minor accumulations of snow occurred in 2022 and 2023. Temperatures on New Year's Day in 2022 were very chilly, with highs in the single digits to teens and lows below zero. Last year, we experienced a relatively mild and dry January 1st.