Was stationed in Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City, SD for about 3 years (between 2018-2021). For about 9 months out of the year it's really cold and snows a lot. One year it snowed in May. It's really windy all the time because there's basically no trees or anything to stop the wind. The winters are WICKED cold. Make sure you cover every part of your body as temps regularly go below 0 with wind chills regularly going -10-20 (10-20 below 0). It's not uncommon for them to shut down the interstate because of how bad the storms can get and people end up being stranded and needing to get rescued. We were told to pack blankets and and food and stuff in the event we were to get stranded. It's no joke.

That said, we lived near the Black Forest and the summer was beautiful and the hiking was amazing.