Snowiest Counties in South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota

As a musician, getting into the top 40 is one of the ultimate bucket list things you can accomplish.

But when the topic is severe winter weather, landing in the top 40 is hardly something to brag about.

But that's exactly where pair of counties in South Dakota and Minnesota find themselves.

Get our free mobile app

Recently, Lawn Love looked at snowfall and climate data from 256 counties in America to compile their list of 2024’s Snowiest Counties.

They factored in annual snowfall totals, as well as one-day, and three-day records. They also considered the average historical annual temperature and the number of days with temperatures below freezing.

The highest ranking county in the Tri-State area is Minnesota's St. Louis County at  number 28 overall, with an average annual snowfall of 64 inches.

The other local county to land in the top 40 is South Dakota's Pennington County at number 38 overall, with an average annual snowfall of 39 inches.

Minnesota has four other counties in the top 100:

61. Koochiching (60")
63. Sherburne(46")
72. Hennepin (52")
90. Olmsted (48")

South Dakota has three other counties in the top 100:

91. Brown (38")
93. Minnehaha (39")
94. Beadle (30")

Iowa didn't put a single county in the top 100. The highest county is Woodbury at number 113.

Not surprisingly, the list of snowiest counties in America is dominated by places in  Alaska, which occupy six of the top ten spots.

To give you some perspective, the national average for snowfall is 28 inches per year. Valdez-Cordova, Alaska - the snowiest place in the country - averages nearly 280 inches annually.

1. Valdez-Cordova, Alaska
2. Coos County, New Hampshire
3. Placer County, California
4. Matanuska-Susitna, Alaska
5. Yakutat City, Alaska
6. Erie, New York
7. Coconino, Arizona
8. Fairbanks, Alaska
9. Yukon-Koyukuk, Alaska
10. Anchorage, Alaska