Did you move east to west? Question :) (Sioux Falls, Rapid City: motorhome, employment)

[Raean]

Okay, being from SD all my life I know the weather on the east side real well. Too well!
What I want to know, especially from people who've experienced it, is the major differences of living near or in Rapid versus Sioux Falls area or surrounding. Such as:

Windier? REALLY interested to know this one.. I always thought it would be windy at the Hills, but I've heard different stories so set me straight

More tolerable winter?

Muggier or drier summer, or the same? (I've heard there's less mosquitos?)

Tourist season, what's it like?
and tell me anything else you think is an interesting or very noticeable change.. would love your insight!

Thanks

[ElkHunter]

I've lived both places. Our farm was near Miller (Hand County), but we lived in Rapid City.

When school let out in the spring, I headed down to the farm and worked all summer. We had a hired man that fed during the winter.

Hands down, I would take the Hills area. A lot less wind, a lot milder weather. School was set up with 2 snow days. We seldome used them. On the other hand, Miller got blasted and everything shut down because of weather.

The hills had more of a feeling of the West. It's a mindset. Less concern of neighbors thoughts, less gossip. If you needed help, a neighbor was right there. In Miller, if you needed help, everybody in town had been discussing it for a couple weeks.

In Rapid City, you really don't notice tourist season as much as you would if you lived up in the hills. My aunt lives up by Hill City and she notices the increase in traffic, the higher prices during the summer, etc... But Rapid City is large enough that you might see a few extra cars at Wal-Mart, or your favorite steak house has more people, but you won't notice much for traffic in Rapid.

[no8fann]

I can't say from Sioux Falls, but I know from where we moved in Indiana (which I understand to be similar), there is WAY less humidity! What WR thinks of as humidity is a walk in the park compared to ER - I have been on the eastern side of the state during the past summer, and there is a very noticable difference in humidity.

There are definitely more mosquitoes ER, too! My daughter is a bona fide mosquito magnet, and she is allergic to the bites. Since we have been here two summers, I have not had to dose her with benadryl once due to mosquitos, and we live just down off the hills. We have them, but only a few at a time, not in clouds like out east!

Tourist season is not near what people would lead you to believe. If you are used to being around a "normally" crowded population, tourist season here will not make you cringe, except maybe during Sturgis, depending on where you work. I only notice more bikes for a couple of weeks, and we avoid Sturgis and the immediate area during that time. I came from an area where there are 150,000 people everyday, so tourist season here doesn't bug me at all. We still do all the touristy stuff during the summer, too, since we are so new to the area still.

Wind - yeah, it gets windy down off the hills. Out toward Belle and Sturgis, it can knock you over. But it doesn't blow for days at a time, like it does in WY. We get a few windy days here and there, but it's not constant. The breezy days in the summer can be quite pleasant!

[SD4020]

It always blows in South Dakota.... From Ellsworth east it always blows. After 11 miserable years in Pierre, I hated the humidity.

Home lacks the humidity and is a lot more livable. Here I sleep with the windows open at night. Something I only did from mid april to maybe June 1st when I was east.

On 79 on a Friday afternoon you notice all the people heading down to Angostura. There are more cars on 16 and my neighbors are a campground so I have to be careful I don't run over a motorhome.

Elkhunter is right, the gossip thing isn't near a common out west. We do our thing.

[Raean]

Thanks for the insight so far, I just know I'm tired of the wind ruining practically every single nice day there is. Someone told me once Rapid was windy like here because of the hills and higher elevation, but I've read other things that tell me it's not quite as bad so wanted first hand insight. I don't mind tourists, except when prices take a hike because of it. I know I can look up statistics and history of wind, bugs, etc, but I have come to find first hand experience is the most reliable, even though all of our ideas of comfortable may be different.

[SD4020]

Boy I shouldn't post when I'm half awake. with tourist and bikes take your time and you'll be fine. In the summer prices go up everywhere.


I am ready for summer.

[BrianGuy1979]

Originally Posted by Raean

Okay, being from SD all my life I know the weather on the east side real well. Too well!
What I want to know, especially from people who've experienced it, is the major differences of living near or in Rapid versus Sioux Falls area or surrounding. Such as:

Windier? REALLY interested to know this one.. I always thought it would be windy at the Hills, but I've heard different stories so set me straight

More tolerable winter?

Muggier or drier summer, or the same? (I've heard there's less mosquitos?)

Tourist season, what's it like?
and tell me anything else you think is an interesting or very noticeable change.. would love your insight!

Thanks

I just thought I would throw in my two cents.... I live in Omaha, NE. The humidity might be slightly higher than in Sioux Falls, but similar. My wife and I had the privilege to live in Rapid for 6 weeks back in the summer of 2009. I can say without a doubt that the weather was much nicer than on the eastern side. The humidity levels were VERY tolerable. I am a sweater. I sweat like crazy. It drives me nuts. I can't mow a yard without the sweat getting in my eyes. When we lived up there I could mow with NO sweat. It was the humidity that brought it that on. No humidity meant that we didn't need AC in the house. We had fans in the windows during the summer and we were fine. At night time the fresh clean SD air blew in and it felt wonderful. As for the wind....YES, it can be windy. It is all the time? NO. When we lived there, there were a few windy days here and there that were more windy that what I was used to back in Omaha, but it wasn't everyday. My wife and I were in Rapid to visit last month and there was one day out of the four days we were there that was pretty windy, but when we got to our friend's house in Deadwood, it was silent. No wind at all, very calm. Gotta love the Hills!

I can relate to you with the mosquito issue. My 3yr old son is allergic to them as well. However while we lived in Rapid he did not get ONE bite the entire time compared to frequently in Omaha. I loved that aspect of being there!

Mild winters? Well, I cannot say for certain because I have not lived there in the winter. I can say this much though: I watch Rapid's weather everyday. I have a weather bug thing on my desktop and I can see the temp there all the time. I can promise you that Rapid has been warmer and nicer than Omaha 90% of the time this winter season. When my wife and I drove up there last month, it was warmer in Rapid (60's) than in Omaha (30's) when we got there. That was on the 2nd week of February. A few days after we left the Hills got hit by a snow storm. 6+ inches....but guess what? By the next week it was back in the 40's and melting it all away. Again...gotta love the Hills!

I think you would love living on the western side. I know that if I could just get my employment lined up, my family would have already been back there by now. We have been trying to get moved for the last two months. I can't seem to get a dealership that wants to hire me to do what they normally contract out to outsiders for some reason. Otherwise it would have been a done deal and I would be writing this to you as I look out the window admiring the beautiful scenery and smelling the fresh air of the beautiful Black Hills in SD!

[the old man]

the wind always blows in SD

[SD4020]

That is because Kansas sucks so bad.

[the old man]

I always thought it was because ND blows and Neb sucks and we're stuck in the middle JUST JOKING FOLKS