Night sky tonight in South Dakota

Tonight's score out of 10 and the best hours for each South Dakota city we cover, worked out for its own position and time zone. Open a city for the full forecast: the Moon, planets, meteor showers, northern lights, ISS passes and clouds.

Cities in South Dakota

City	Tonight	Best time	Northern lights need
Sioux Falls	…	…	Kp 6.6
Rapid City	…	…	Kp 6.7
Aberdeen	…	…	Kp 6.3
Brookings	…	…	Kp 6.5
Pierre	…	…	Kp 6.5

Scores before clouds; each city page adds the National Weather Service cloud forecast. Northern lights: see tonight's aurora outlook for South Dakota.

Darkness across South Dakota

How early it gets dark in midwinter and how short the summer nights get, city by city, and how far each city is from the nearest certified dark-sky place.

City	Sunset Dec 15	Full darkness Dec 15	Sunset Jun 15	Full darkness Jun 15	Nearest dark-sky place
Sioux Falls	4:51 PM	11.6 h	9:10 PM	3.9 h	Merritt Reservoir State Recreation Area, 218 mi W
Rapid City	4:15 PM	11.6 h	8:38 PM	3.7 h	Badlands National Park, 67 mi E
Aberdeen	4:51 PM	11.7 h	9:24 PM	3.1 h	Badlands National Park, 208 mi SW
Brookings	4:49 PM	11.6 h	9:13 PM	3.6 h	Merritt Reservoir State Recreation Area, 235 mi SW
Pierre	5:03 PM	11.6 h	9:27 PM	3.6 h	Badlands National Park, 91 mi SW

Moon-free nights in South Dakota, month by month

The runs of nights when the Moon is down for most of full darkness, worked out for Sioux Falls; across the state the dates shift by a night at most.

November 2026: Nov 3–15
December 2026: Dec 2–14, Dec 31
January 2027: Jan 1–13, Jan 29–31
February 2027: Feb 1–11, Feb 27–28
March 2027: Mar 1–11, Mar 28–31
April 2027: Apr 1–9, Apr 26–30
May 2027: May 1–9, May 27–31
June 2027: Jun 1–8, Jun 29–30
July 2027: Jul 1–11, Jul 29–31
August 2027: Aug 1–10, Aug 27–31
September 2027: Sep 1–8, Sep 25–30
October 2027: Oct 1–6, Oct 24–31
November 2027: Nov 1–4, Nov 22–30
December 2027: Dec 1–3, Dec 20–31

Dark-sky places in South Dakota

Badlands National Park: International Dark Sky Park (2025)

Descriptions and moon-free weekends

Eclipses visible in South Dakota

All states