Box Elder, South Dakota Weather
Box Elder, South Dakota — live current conditions, hourly and 7-day forecasts, NWS alerts, radar and satellite imagery, soil and crop conditions for Box Elder, Pennington County.
Full aviation weather for Box Elder is published on the Ellsworth Air Force Base (KRCA) page, 5 km away. It carries the current METAR decoded into plain language — surface wind, visibility, cloud layers and ceiling, temperature and dewpoint, and altimeter setting — alongside the raw observation as transmitted. 3 airfields within reach of Box Elder have their own pages, listed below.
The Terminal Aerodrome Forecast (TAF) is shown across its full validity period, with each change group broken out so you can see when conditions are expected to shift. Flight category is derived automatically — VFR, MVFR, IFR or LIFR — from reported ceiling and visibility, with runway details and field elevation alongside. Observations update roughly hourly and forecasts several times a day.
Other airports near Box Elder: Rapid City Regional Airport (KRAP) 8 km · Sturgis Municipal Airport (K49B) 42 km
Conditions reported at KRCA describe the airfield itself. Weather 5 km away can differ, particularly in terrain or near the coast. For conditions at Box Elder specifically, see the current conditions and forecast above.
Soil conditions, frost risk and crop weather for Box Elder.
About Box Elder, South Dakota
Box Elder lies on the edge of a vast, rolling prairie, a place where the earth seems to exhale and the sky stretches in an endless, pale blue embrace. It lies 8.4 miles east-north-east of Rapid City, SD (from Rapid City, SD: bearing 75°T), and is situated 5.2 miles north-east of Rapid Valley. The land here is a study in muted greens and ochres, broken by the occasional tenacious shrub clinging to the soil. The air, especially in the early morning, carries a crispness that speaks of wide-open spaces, a scent of dry grass and distant dust. The horizon is a constant, unwavering line, punctuated only by the occasional weathered barn or the skeletal silhouette of a windbreak. Even the shadows, cast long and sharp by the low-hanging sun, seem to possess a certain solitude, a quiet dignity. The history of Box Elder is intrinsically tied to the rhythm of the land and the enduring spirit of those who have sought a life here. Originally a stopping point for travelers and ranchers, its character was shaped by the hardy pioneers who carved out existence from this challenging terrain. The local economy has long been influenced by agriculture and the burgeoning aerospace industry, a curious juxtaposition of the old and the new. The presence of Ellsworth Air Force Base has profoundly shaped Box Elder, introducing a steady hum of activity that contrasts with the stillness of the surrounding plains. This blend of frontier resilience and modern defense has imbued Box Elder with a unique, unpretentious spirit, a place where the past whispers on the wind and the future is charted by the steady flight of aircraft against the immense canvas of the sky.
Live animated radar for Box Elder and surroundings — RainViewer.
NOAA GOES-16 GEOCOLOR — live animated loop updated every 10 minutes. Shows cloud cover, storm systems and weather patterns across the continental US.
Source: NOAA/NESDIS GOES-East · Public domain · Auto-updates on page reload
| Location | Box Elder, Pennington County, South Dakota |
| Coordinates | 44.112488°N, 103.068232°W |
| Timezone | Mountain Time (America/Denver) |
| ZIP Code(s) | 57719, 57706 |
| Area Code | 605 |
| Page generated | September 2026 |
| Weather data | Open-Meteo (open-source), NOAA National Weather Service |
About This Box Elder, South Dakota Weather Page
This page provides live weather conditions and forecasts for Box Elder, South Dakota, including current conditions, a 24-hour hourly forecast, 7-day outlook, NWS extended text forecast, precipitation radar and NOAA GOES-16 satellite imagery. Aviation weather — live METAR observations and TAF forecasts — is published separately on the pages for the nearest reporting airports, linked from the aviation section above. Additional sections may include tide predictions, wave height, wave direction and sea-surface temperature, a barometric pressure trend, and a solunar-based fishing forecast with a fishing-conditions rating for coastal localities, and soil temperature, crop weather and live USGS river gauge data for agricultural areas near a monitored waterway. All data updates automatically on every page visit.
Location data for Box Elder includes coordinates 44.112488°N, 103.068232°W, situated in Pennington County. ZIP code 57719, 57706. Telephone area code: 605. Timezone: Mountain Time (America/Denver).
Weather data is sourced from the NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) and the open-source Open-Meteo API. River and stream data is sourced from the USGS National Water Information System. Tide predictions are sourced from NOAA CO-OPS; marine and solunar data are modeled from Open-Meteo and public sunrise/moon calculations and should be treated as a general guide alongside on-the-water conditions. Radar is provided by RainViewer. Satellite imagery is sourced from NOAA/NESDIS GOES-East and is public domain.
