After 40 Years on the Waubay Study Area Study Area Figure 1. Altitude above sea level is 579 m. Climate Past and present weather data were obtained from records maintained at the Waubay National Wildlife Refuge. The climate of eastern South Dakota is typically mid-continental with great annual and seasonal variation.
Summers are short and warm, and winters are long and cold.
Snow accumulates in most years, and the wetlands are dependent upon runoff received from snowmelt.