Tornado and Damaging Winds in South Dakota, June 20, 1957

Name: Tornado and Damaging Winds in South Dakota, June 20, 1957
Start: 1957-06-20T20:30
End: 1957-06-20T23:12
Location: South Dakota

June 20, 1957 · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

2 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $25,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 3

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

Event by event

2 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Sanborn

When: June 20, 8:30 PM CST
Where: Sanborn County
Measured: 82 kt (94 mph)
Coordinates: 44.000, -98.080

Tornado, Spink

When: June 20, 10:00 PM CST
Where: Spink County
Rating: F2
Path width: 33 yd
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $25,000
Coordinates: 45.020, -98.630

Thunderstorm Wind, Gregory

When: June 20, 11:12 PM CST
Where: Gregory County
Measured: 62 kt (71 mph)
Coordinates: 43.200, -99.400

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Tornado, Spink	1957-06-20				Direct

What these are

Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.
Tornado: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in South Dakota in 1957 Every state in 1957 This day in weather history The tornado archive for South Dakota, 1957

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 10113011, 10113012, 10113013.