Michael Klinski
Michael Klinski
investigative reporter
michael.klinski@sdnewswatch.org

Yes.

The National Weather Service in Sioux Falls announced a record snowfall amount had been set for the city on July 9 after pea-sized hail fell.

The hail was marked as a “trace” in the snowfall column on a day when the minimum temperature reached 64 degrees. 

Tim Masters, a hydro-meteorological technician with the Sioux Falls NWS office, said that all frozen precipitation, such as snow, ice or hail, is counted as snowfall. 

“Generally with hail, the overall rule is that hail is just a trace (of snowfall), unless you get into a situation where you get a ton of hail like Denver or Cheyenne. Then you measure how deep the average depth is,” Masters said.

Six record-setting days in July at Sioux Falls have received a trace of “snowfall” in the history of NWS record keeping. Rapid City has eight days of record-setting snowfall of a trace in July. 

This fact brief responds to conversations such as this one.

Sources

National Weather Service, July 2025 Climatology records for Sioux Falls

National Weather Service, Interview with Tim Masters audio

KELO-TV, Record Sioux Falls snowfall in July?

National Weather Service, Rapid City daily records


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This story was produced by South Dakota News Watch, an independent, nonprofit organization. Read more stories and donate at sdnewswatch.org and sign up for an email to get stories when they're published. Contact Michael Klinski at michael.klinski@sdnewswatch.org.