Where Does South Dakota Rank Among States With Big Temp Spikes?

Global warming is something that, whether you fully subscribe to it or not, has been talked about a lot over the past decade or so.

And while the numbers show that every state in America is trending warmer, the folks at Stacker went back considerably farther than ten years to capture a much more comprehensive picture of just how much the temps have risen.

They looked at Climate Central's 2020 Earth Day report and Applied Climate Information System’s time-series data from major metropolitan areas in each state going all the way back to 1970.

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What they found in South Dakota has the lowest variation in temperature over the past five decades - an increase of 1.37 degrees. We're tied with Maryland and Mississippi at 50th overall.

STATES WITH LOWEST TEMPERATURE CHANGE (Since 1970)

South Dakota, Maryland, Mississippi - +1.37 degrees
Hawaii - +1.40 degrees
Idaho - +1.50 degrees
Indiana, Iowa - +1.52 degrees
Colorado - +1.53 degrees
California - +1.56 degrees
Virginia - +1.58 degrees

In the Mount Rushmore State, two of the biggest cities were above the state average - Mitchell (+1.80 degrees) and Sioux Falls (+1.70 degrees).

Already in the midst of a drought, the experts predict that South Dakota will suffer a 75 percent increase in the severity of its summer droughts by 2050 and will see the number of dangerous heat days from ten per year now to 35 by 2050.

As for the state that has seen the biggest spike in temperature since 1970, it's no contest.

Nevada's jump of nearly six-and-a-half degrees since 1970 is nearly double of the next closest state.

It doesn't help that the Silver State has the least amount of rainfall of any state in America.

STATES WITH HIGHEST TEMPERATURE CHANGE (Since 1970)