South Dakota Nature Guide: December 2026
Data updated: August 2026Sources & method · Corrections
December settles South Dakota into winter — short days, drifting snow, and a frozen, wind-scoured prairie. The natural life is concentrated and hardy: bald eagles building below the Missouri dams, feeder flocks and winter sparrows, and the longest, darkest nights of the year over the Badlands and Black Hills.
Week by week in December
December 3–9
- Christmas Bird Count season begins, with bald eagles fishing below the dams and northern shrikes and snow buntings on the frozen prairie.
- The brilliant winter constellations return: Orion climbs in the southeast over the Badlands, his belt pointing down to Sirius.
- Brush heavy snow off arborvitae and junipers after storms, and turn to seed catalogs as the garden settles fully dormant.
December 10–16
- The Geminid meteor shower peaks around December 14, one of the best of the year — bundle up and watch from a dark prairie overlook.
- Black Hills ponderosa edges hold the resident white-winged junco and roving red crossbills through the deep cold.
- Indoor holiday markets carry stored roots, the state's honey, cut Black Hills spruce, and wreaths for the season.
December 17–23
- The winter solstice on December 21 brings the longest night of the year, with the Winter Hexagon sprawling overhead under cold, clear skies.
- A heated birdbath draws chickadees, nuthatches, and cardinals that seed alone never will in the frozen landscape.
- The Black Hills spruce, dense and blue-green under snow, is the high country's classic cut Christmas tree.
December 24–31
- Bald eagles, goldeneyes, and trumpeter swans hold the open water below Gavins Point Dam as the year closes on the frozen Missouri.
- Plains cottonwoods stand in towering gray silhouette over the river bottoms while marcescent bur oaks rattle in the prairie wind.
- Let the wind-packed snow insulate the beds, inventory seed, and plan next year's rows as the prairie garden sleeps through deep winter.
Birds This Month
December birding in South Dakota centers on open water and the feeder, and it is Christmas Bird Count season across the state. Below the Missouri dams — Gavins Point at Yankton, Fort Randall, and Oahe — bald eagles gather to fish the ice-free tailwater, joined by common goldeneyes, common mergansers, and lingering trumpeter swans. The frozen prairie holds rough-legged hawks over the stubble, restless flocks of snow buntings, horned larks, and Lapland longspurs, and northern shrikes hunting from shelterbelt tops.
At feeders, the winter community is set: black-capped chickadees, white-breasted and red-breasted nuthatches, downy and hairy woodpeckers, northern cardinals, dark-eyed juncos, and American tree sparrows, with irruptive common redpolls and pine siskins in invasion years. In the Black Hills, ponderosa edges hold the resident white-winged junco and roving red crossbills. The state bird, the ring-necked pheasant, shelters deep in the cattails.
This month's tip: join a local Christmas Bird Count, and keep feeders full and clear through cold snaps — a heated birdbath draws birds that seed alone never will.
What's Blooming
Nothing blooms outdoors in a South Dakota December — the prairie lies frozen and snow-covered, and the pasque flower, the year's first bloom, is three months away. The season's color and life are held in the standing dead: the silvered plumes of little bluestem and Indiangrass catching the low winter sun, the dark seed heads of coneflower, blazing star, and sunflower standing above the drifts, and the powder-blue cones of Rocky Mountain juniper in the draws. These persistent structures are the prairie's winter larder, feeding the juncos, tree sparrows, redpolls, and waxwings that move through the frozen landscape. Indoors, this is the season of amaryllis, forced paperwhites, poinsettias, and fragrant cut evergreens — the only flowers in a South Dakota December, brought inside against the cold.
Garden This Month
December gardening in South Dakota happens entirely indoors and on paper. Beds are frozen and snow-covered statewide, so the work is planning and protecting: inventory leftover seed, study catalogs and order early for the spring rush, sketch next year's vegetable rows, and check stored dahlia tubers, gladiolus corms, and any overwintering pots for rot or drying. Sharpen, clean, and oil tools while there is time.
Outdoors, let the snow do its work — drifted, wind-packed snow over perennial beds, strawberry rows, and fall-planted garlic is the best insulation a prairie garden gets, holding soil temperatures steady and shielding crowns from the brutal freeze-thaw swings of the open plains. Knock heavy, wet snow gently off arborvitae, junipers, and young evergreens after storms to prevent the branches from splitting, but leave dry powder undisturbed. Keep an eye on young tree wraps against rabbits and deer pushed in by deep snow.
Zone 3b (northern plains and higher Black Hills): the garden is fully dormant under snow, which is its best insulation — leave drifts banked over beds, knock heavy snow off evergreens after storms, and turn to seed catalogs and planning for the state's coldest, shortest-season country.
Zone 4a (central and western prairie): nothing grows outdoors — confirm mulch and snow are protecting perennials and garlic, brush snow from evergreens and arborvitae, and use the dormant season to inventory seed, sharpen tools, and plan next year's beds.
Zone 4b (southeastern corner): even the mildest tier is deep-frozen — check that fall-planted garlic and bulbs are well mulched, prune oaks on a calm dormant day if needed, and begin the catalog-dreaming and seed-ordering that anchor the prairie winter.
What's at the Farmers Market
South Dakota's outdoor markets are closed, but indoor winter and holiday markets in Sioux Falls, Rapid City, and Brookings, plus on-farm stands, keep going through December. The stalls carry the durable stored harvest: winter squash, potatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, beets, turnips, and cabbage, along with the last stored apples from the fall pick, all keeping well in the cold.
Holiday demand brings out the state's prized honey, fresh eggs, frozen pasture-raised beef and bison, jarred preserves and jams, and a heavy lineup of seasonal baked goods, plus cut evergreens, wreaths, and Black Hills spruce for the holidays. Heated hoop houses still supply cold-hardy spinach and greens. Store squash cool and dry, onions and garlic in an airy spot, and roots in a cool, humid place, and the cured harvest will carry your kitchen through the depths of the prairie winter.
Night Sky This Month
December gives South Dakota its longest nights of the year around the winter solstice on December 21, and the cold, dry air makes for superb stargazing if you can stand the cold. The premier dark sites are Badlands National Park and the remote Black Hills and open western prairie, where the winter sky burns hard and clear with no city light for miles in any direction.
The brilliant winter constellations rule the long nights: Orion climbs in the southeast with his belt pointing down to Sirius, the orange Pleiades and Taurus ride high, and the whole Winter Hexagon sprawls overhead by late evening. The Geminid meteor shower, one of the best and most reliable of the year, peaks around December 14, often producing many meteors an hour from a dark site — bundle up and watch from a Badlands or prairie overlook.
Exact meteor-peak timing and planet positions shift year to year — the printable South Dakota night-sky guide lists the current dates and best viewing for your part of the state.
Butterflies & Pollinators
No butterflies fly in a South Dakota December — the prairie is frozen and wind-driven and the Black Hills lie deep under snow. The summer's species are all overwintering in hidden, dormant forms scattered across the dormant landscape. Monarchs are far south in the oyamel firs of central Mexico, while the state's resident butterflies wait out the cold in place. Mourning cloaks ride out the deep freeze as adults wedged behind loose cottonwood bark in the river bottoms and in Black Hills crevices and woodpiles, their bodies loaded with cryoprotectants. The prairie-specialist regal fritillary sleeps as a minute caterpillar buried in the grass thatch, and other species hold on as chrysalises and eggs in the leaf litter and on dried host stems. The standing native grasses and seed heads are their shelter, and the year's first wings will not return until a warm March thaw rouses the mourning cloaks.
What to plant for them is in the South Dakota native plants guide
Trees This Month
South Dakota's trees stand in full winter dormancy in December, their forms legible against the snow. In the Black Hills, the evergreens carry the high country: the dark spires of ponderosa pine and the dense blue-green crowns of the state tree, the Black Hills spruce, weighted with snow on the slopes above Custer and Spearfish — the Black Hills spruce also the region's classic cut Christmas tree. The quaking aspens and paper birches stand bare and pale in the draws.
On the prairie and river bottoms, the towering gray silhouettes of plains cottonwood dominate the Missouri and Big Sioux bottoms, the bare crowns of bur oak stand alone in old pastures still clinging to russet marcescent leaves, and the green ash and American elm show their winter forms. Scattered through the draws and shelterbelts, Rocky Mountain juniper holds the only true green and its blue cones, drawing wintering robins and cedar waxwings across the frozen country.
The South Dakota native plants guide covers what grows with them
Weather & Daylight
Across South Dakota, a typical December day averages a high near 32°F and a low near 12°F, with about 0.6 inches of precipitation — statewide averages from the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals.
Short, cold days hover near freezing with frigid nights in the teens and quiet, dry winter air.
| Average high | 32°F |
|---|---|
| Average low | 12°F |
| Precipitation | 0.6 in |
| Sunrise (mid-month) | 8:06 CT |
| Sunset (mid-month) | 16:58 CT |
Figures are statewide averages over the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals; local conditions vary with elevation and distance from the coast. Sunrise and sunset are computed for a midstate point on the 15th (CT).
Next month's version of this page, by email
One short note when South Dakota's next month turns — what's arriving, blooming, and worth a night outside.
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The complete South Dakota birding, native-plant, and night-sky references — or the whole year, week by week, in one book.
Same month elsewhere: December in Tennessee · December in Texas · December in Utah