South Dakota

Storm History: Clay County, South Dakota

577 episodes, 708 events since 1955

Every storm the National Weather Service has filed in Clay 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
708
Deaths
0
Injuries
3
Damage
$76 million
Episodes
577

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 Clay 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
Hail15800$295,000
Tornado9600$2.8 million
Drought5700$38 million
Winter Weather5601
Flash Flood5300$415,000
Winter Storm4700
Flood4600$34 million
Blizzard4400$81,000
High Wind4100$90,000
Thunderstorm Wind3802$526,000
Excessive Heat2200
Heavy Snow1400
Extreme Cold/Wind Chill1400
Cold/Wind Chill1000
Heat600
Ice Storm300$20,000
Lightning100$20,000
Wildfire100
Strong Wind100

The deadliest

None recorded.

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 Clay County, with its track

Every episode, newest first

Earlier years, state by state:

More

Tornadoes in Clay CountyEvery warning in Clay 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.