Temperature
42 F at 3 AM; 63 F at its warmest, 3 PM Friday, and 33 F at its coolest, 7 AM Friday.
- Now
- 42F
- 3 AM
- Highest
- 63F
- 3 PM Friday
- Lowest
- 33F
- 7 AM Friday
How it is measured: Stevenson screen and siting, Field Book FB-INS-009
Airports/South Dakota/Ellsworth Air Force Base
Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota
Medium airport in Meade County, South Dakota41°
81°/38°
Clear·
Feels like 38°·Light air 4 mph SSW
Coming up. Tomorrow is 11 degrees cooler: a high of 70° after 81° today.
Now. Ellsworth Air Force Base is 41° and clear at 4 AM. The dew point is 26°, so the air feels dry and comfortable. Light air from the south-southwest at 4 mph.
Today and tonight. It warms to about 78° by 3 PM. Tonight falls to about 49° by 3 AM, under a mostly clear sky. No rain is expected for the rest of the day.
The week. The warmest day ahead is Thursday, near 79°, and the coolest Monday, near 66°. Rain is possible Friday (35%).
The sky tonight. The sun sets at 6:05 PM. The Moon is a waxing crescent, 43% lit, and sets at 10:54 PM. The next full Moon is Sunday, Oct 25. After dark, look for Saturn, bright in the east-southeast. A planet shines with a steady light where the stars around it twinkle. The Orionids meteor shower is active, peaking around Oct 21: at its peak, up to about 20 meteors an hour can be seen from a dark site. The sky is forecast to stay clear: a good night to look up. The day is 10 hours 57 minutes long, 3 minutes shorter than yesterday.
0UV Low
34Air quality
54%Humidity
0%Cloud
Now
4:00 AM
41feels38
now, clear
Today
Oct 17
8138
clear day
Sun
Oct 18
7047
16mph
Mon
Oct 19
6640
13mph
Tue
Oct 20
7743
clear day
Wed
Oct 21
7348
clear day
Thu
Oct 22
7947
partly cloudy day
Fri
Oct 23
7652
35%
14mph
41°
81°38°
70°47°
66°40°
77°43°
73°48°
79°47°
76°52°
As of 4:00 AM in Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota.
Air quality
The air at Ellsworth Air Force Base
Index 34, good, led by ozone. Read at 4 AM from its reporting area, Rapid City (SD), 10 miles off.
34Good
- Fine particles (PM2.5)7Good-
- Ozone34Good40 ppb10.7 mi
- Coarse particles (PM10)3Good10.7 mi
The days ahead
Yesterday measured 32, good.
GoodModerate
- 32YesterdayOct 16
Smoke, the next 45 hours
Little smoke near the ground through Mon 12 AM: the index from smoke stays at 6 or under.
Precipitation
What has fallen at Ellsworth Air Force Base
None in the last 3 days, to Sat 3 AM. Measured by radar and rain gauges, as water.
- Last 24 hours
- 0.00in
- Last 3 days
- 0.00in
Visibility
How far you can see at Ellsworth Air Force Base, the next 45 hours
Visibility stays 10 miles or more through Mon 12 AM.
F
Now, today, and the week
Weather instrument stations by state
Airfield
- Code
- RCA
- ICAO
- KRCA
- IATA
- RCA
- Field elevation
- 3,276 ft
- Serves
- Rapid City
- Kind
- Medium airport
- Scheduled service
- No
- Its own instrument
- RCA
- Wind now
- From 300° at 3 mph, read 17 Oct, 03:55
Runways
| Runway | Length | Width | Surface | Heading, true | Wind along it now | Crosswind now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 / 31 | 13,497 ft | 300 ft | Concrete | 139° / 319° | 3 mph head, on 31 | 1 mph from the left |
Measured here
What the airfield's own instrument measured, the last 24 hours
Every hour from Ellsworth AFB (RCA), Ellsworth Air Force Base's own instrument, measure by measure, on the field's own clock.
Humidity and dew point
A dew point of 26 F, the air 53% saturated; the humidity ran from 10% at 4 PM Friday to 75% at 5 AM Friday.
- Dew point now
- 26F
- 3 AM
- Humidity now
- 53%
- Humidity, range
- 10 to 75%
How it is measured: Humidity variables, Field Book FB-WAT-002
Wind
3 mph from the west northwest at 3 AM; at its strongest 18 mph, 1 PM Friday, and no gust reported.
- Now
- 3mph
- from the west northwest
- Strongest
- 18mph
- 1 PM Friday
- Highest gust
- -
- none reported
How it is measured: Coriolis as geometry, Field Book FB-ENG-008
Pressure
30.16 inHg at 3 AM, falling 0.07 inHg over 3 hours; 0.53 inHg lower than a day before.
- Now
- 30.16inHg
- 3 AM
- 3 hours
- -0.07inHg
- falling
- 24 hours
- -0.53inHg
How it is measured: Hydrostatic balance, Field Book FB-ENG-003
Visibility
10 miles or more every hour.
- Now
- 10+mi
- Lowest
- 10+mi
- Hours under a mile
- 0
How it is measured: Fog types, Field Book FB-WAT-020
Precipitation
None measured in the gauge in the last 24 hours.
- Last 24 hours
- 0.00in
- Wettest hour
- -
- Hours with some
- 0
How it is measured: ASOS, Field Book FB-INS-002
Ellsworth AFB: every reading, the last 7 days, 30 days and the year, and how well it reports
What is measuring near here
The 5 instruments nearest Ellsworth Air Force Base, how far away each one is, how high it stands, and what kind of measurement it makes. The nearest is 0.0 miles away.
measured now3 instruments
At an airfield/0.0 mi away/3,207 ft/69 ft below here
temp, wind, gust, visibility, precip, pressure
Sd RWIS EllsworthSD523
Beside a road/2.0 mi away/3,071 ft/205 ft below here
temp, pavement temp, wind, visibility, precip
Rapid City - Rapid Creek above WRFRCVS2
At a river or reservoir gauge/8.2 mi away/3,014 ft/262 ft below here
temp, wind, gust, humidity, pressure
measured daily2 instruments
Box Elder 0.5 NESD-PN-101
In a volunteer observer's own ground/2.3 mi away/3,082 ft/194 ft below here
precip, snowfall, snow depth
Wfo Rapid CityUNRS2
At a cooperative observer's station/7.3 mi away/3,356 ft/80 ft above here
snowfall, snow depth, precip, high, low
What the snow tracker reads here
Every instrument in this state
0in
Snow on the ground
Measured at Wfo Rapid City (UNRS2), 7.3 miles from here, read 16 Oct, 23:59. measured daily
Elsewhere in South Dakota
24 places, each with its own forecast and its own instruments.
AberdeencityBadlandsfeatureBelle FourchecityBlack Elk PeakfeatureBlack HillsfeatureBrookingscityCustercityDeadwoodcityGreat Bearski areaHot SpringscityHuroncityLake OahefeatureLeadcityMitchellcityPierrecityRapid CitycitySioux FallscitySpearfishcitySturgiscityTerry Peakski areaVermillioncityWatertowncityWind Cave National ParkfeatureYanktoncity
Near Ellsworth Air Force Base
The nearest places, each with its own forecast and the instruments nearest it.
- Ashland Heightscommunity, 1 mi
- Box Eldercity, 2 mi
- Rapid Valleycommunity, 6 mi
- Green Valleycommunity, 7 mi
- Rapid Citycity, 8 mi
- Blackhawkcommunity, 10 mi
- Summersetcity, 12 mi
- Caputacommunity, 12 mi
- Wonderland Homescommunity, 13 mi
- Piedmontcity, 13 mi
- New Underwoodcity, 14 mi
- Colonial Pine Hillscommunity, 14 mi
Airports near Ellsworth Air Force Base
- Rapid City Regional AirportRAP, 7 mi
- Sturgis Municipal Airport49B, 23 mi
- Custer County AirportCUT, 38 mi
- Black Hills Airport-Clyde Ice FieldSPF, 41 mi
- Philip AirportPHP, 75 mi
- Faith Municipal AirportD07, 81 mi
- Pine Ridge AirportIEN, 83 mi
- Rosebud Sioux Tribal AirportSUO, 128 mi