Its high elevation in the Black Hills makes Lead one of the wettest places in South Dakota and among the snowiest places in the contiguous United States with a mean snowfall of . During the cold and snowy winter of 1993–94, a whopping of snow fell and three years later snowfall totalled . However, frequent chinook winds mean that most of the enormous snowfall melts during the winter: the highest snow cover on record is on March 1, 1998 – during a storm that totalled of snow (water equivalent ) over six days ending March 2. Mean snow depth in January is only and the median even less at . 15.4 mornings can be expected to fall to or below , with the average window for zero temperatures being December 7 to March 3; on the other hand during winter 12.9 afternoons can be expected to get to or above . The coldest temperature has been on February 8, 1936.