South Dakota

Storm History: Beadle County, South Dakota

767 episodes, 1,044 events since 1953

Every storm the National Weather Service has filed in Beadle County, South Dakota: floods, hail, damaging wind, tornadoes, winter storms, heat and the rest, with the most serious on record. Events filed by forecast zone count for every county the zone covers.

The record

Events
1,044
Deaths
1
Injuries
6
Damage
$113 million
Episodes
767

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.

Open the live radar over Beadle County

Every year

From 1996 the record holds 48 kinds of event with each office’s narrative; before that, tornadoes, hail and thunderstorm wind only, and before 1955 tornadoes alone.

By kind of event

Counted under the kind that heads each episode.

Kind of eventEventsDeathsInjuriesDamage
Hail30200$2.8 million
Tornado18603$19 million
Thunderstorm Wind11100$1.9 million
Flood6600$49 million
High Wind5700$229,000
Winter Weather5400
Blizzard4702$221,000
Drought4500$39 million
Flash Flood4100$257,000
Winter Storm4011$50,000
Heavy Snow2100$10,000
Extreme Cold/Wind Chill2000
Excessive Heat1900
Cold/Wind Chill1600
Ice Storm400$1.0 million
Lightning400$25,000
Heat400
Heavy Rain300$5,000
Wildfire200
Strong Wind200

The deadliest

The costliest

Damage within this county, in the dollars of its year.

The largest hail

The largest stone in each episode, which may have fallen in a neighboring county of the same episode.

The strongest tornadoes

Every tornado in Beadle County, with its track

Every episode, newest first

Earlier years, state by state:

More

Tornadoes in Beadle CountyEvery warning in Beadle County since 1986Every county in South Dakota

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.