Cottonwood, South Dakota Weather
Cottonwood, South Dakota — live current conditions, hourly and 7-day forecasts, NWS alerts, aviation weather, radar and satellite imagery, soil and crop conditions for Cottonwood, Jackson County.
Flight conditions near Cottonwood. Data source: locating…
Soil conditions, frost risk and crop weather for Cottonwood.
About Cottonwood, South Dakota
Cottonwood exists as a quiet exhalation on the South Dakota prairie, a place where the land unfurls in broad, sun-bleached strokes. It lies 66.3 miles east of Rapid City, SD (from Rapid City, SD: bearing 96°T), and is situated 16.8 miles east of Wall. The terrain here is a study in subtle elevation changes, a tapestry of grasses that shift from pale gold to deep ochre under the vast, indifferent sky. Here and there, the occasional cluster of hardy cottonwood trees, their leaves whispering secrets on the wind, offers a fleeting, verdant defiance against the open expanse. The air itself carries a clean, dry scent, tinged with the faint perfume of sun-baked earth and the distant, earthy aroma of livestock. Evenings bring a profound stillness, broken only by the chirping of unseen insects and the slow, deliberate sweep of shadows across the landscape, painting the land in deepening shades of violet and indigo. The history of Cottonwood is intrinsically tied to the enduring spirit of the frontier and the subtle currents of commerce that have shaped this corner of Jackson County. Once a vital stop along the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, its fortunes have ebbed and flowed with the changing tides of transportation and agriculture. The local economy, though modest, is rooted in the sturdy resilience of ranching and farming, enterprises that have weathered the capricious whims of weather and market. Travelers might note the weathered facades of buildings that bear the quiet dignity of age, each one a silent witness to decades of daily life unfolding on these wide-open plains. Cottonwood, in its unassuming way, embodies the persistent heart of the American West.
Live animated radar for Cottonwood 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 | Cottonwood, Jackson County, South Dakota |
| Coordinates | 43.966934°N, 101.905983°W |
| Timezone | Mountain Time (America/Denver) |
| ZIP Code(s) | 57775 |
| Area Code | 605 |
| Page generated | July 2026 |
| Weather data | Open-Meteo (open-source), NOAA National Weather Service |
About This Cottonwood, South Dakota Weather Page
This page provides live weather conditions and forecasts for Cottonwood, South Dakota, including current conditions, a 24-hour hourly forecast, 7-day outlook, NWS extended text forecast, real-time aviation weather (live METAR and TAF reports from the nearest reporting airport, with a modeled estimate shown when no station is in range), precipitation radar and NOAA GOES-16 satellite imagery. 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 Cottonwood includes coordinates 43.966934°N, 101.905983°W, situated in Jackson County. ZIP code 57775. 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. Aviation data is sourced from aviationweather.gov (NOAA), with a modeled estimate used where no nearby reporting station is available. 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.
