South Dakota, 2025

Flash Flood and Hail in South Dakota, August 21 to 22, 2025

August 21 to 22, 2025 · NWS FSD · 4 events in 3 counties and zones

Clusters of slow moving thunderstorms with embedded supercells developed within an environment of 40 kts of deep-layer shear and 2000 J/kg MLCAPE as a mid-level wave moved across the region. Isolated stronger storms had persistent enough updrafts to produce large hail, along with pockets of heavier rainfall of up to 5 to 7 inches in parts of Beadle County.

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
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
4

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS FSD wrote it up.

Clusters of slow moving thunderstorms with embedded supercells developed within an environment of 40 kts of deep-layer shear and 2000 J/kg MLCAPE as a mid-level wave moved across the region. Isolated stronger storms had persistent enough updrafts to produce large hail, along with pockets of heavier rainfall of up to 5 to 7 inches in parts of Beadle County.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Sioux Falls, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 21, 9:55 PM CST, 1 hour 27 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 21, 9:55 PM CST, 1 hour 27 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 21, 4:27 PM CST, 6 hours 55 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

The radar

The Sioux Falls radar (KFSD), 112 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 05:21 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 hail, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Kingsbury

When
August 21, 11:22 PM CST to 11:24 PM CST
Where
Kingsbury County, 0.71 mi SSW of Esmond
Measured
1 in hail
Reported by
Public
Coordinates
44.260, -97.773

Flash Flood, Beadle

When
August 21, 11:30 PM CST to August 22, 4:00 AM CST
Where
Beadle County, 6.57 mi SSE of Bloomfield to 6.77 mi SSE of Bloomfield
Cause
Heavy Rain
Reported by
Emergency Manager
Coordinates
44.546, -98.037

Much of a one-mile stretch of 196th Street was inundated by water east of 409th Avenue. Several other county gravel roads had sections under water.

Hail, Miner

When
August 22, 12:28 AM CST to 12:30 AM CST
Where
Miner County, 0.5 mi E of Howard
Measured
1.25 in hail
Reported by
Public
Coordinates
44.020, -97.520

Hail, Miner

When
August 22, 12:35 AM CST to 12:39 AM CST
Where
Miner County, 3.6 mi NNW of Canova
Measured
2.75 in hail
Reported by
Public
Coordinates
43.930, -97.520

Hail caused significant damage to vehicles.

What these are

Hail
Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Flash Flood
Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in South Dakota in 2025Every state in 2025This day in weather historyWarnings in South Dakota, August 2025

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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1290948, 1290936, 1290949, 1290950.