Marshall County, South Dakota severe weather history spans 346 recorded events between 1957 and 2025. The dominant hazard is hail, accounting for 46.5% of all recorded events. It ranks #1,516 nationally and #48 in South Dakota.
346
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
1
Direct injuries
$1.3M
Property damage
The record
What the Marshall County, South Dakota severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Marshall County, South Dakota severe weather history averages 5.1 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2010s, with 111 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 29 events fall before 1990 and 317 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The costliest is tornado, with $778K in reported property damage. In total, 7 distinct hazard types appear in this county archive, each listed with its own dated record below.
By hazard type
Every hazard type recorded in Marshall County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 161 | 0 | $5K | 4 | 1968–2025 |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 130 | 0 | $80K | 80 | 1960–2025 |
| Tornado | 22 | 0 | $778K | F3 | 1957–2021 |
| Flood | 15 | 0 | $393K | 0 | 2007–2025 |
| Flash Flood | 12 | 0 | $6K | 0 | 2003–2025 |
| Lightning | 5 | 0 | $50K | 0 | 1999–2004 |
| Funnel Cloud | 1 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2011–2011 |
Decade by decade
Marshall County, South Dakota severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
24 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 22 touched down inside it and 2 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996-05-31 | EF3 | 0 | 1 | 32.0 mi | Crossed in |
| 1968-06-09 | EF2 | 0 | 1 | 3.8 mi | Touched down here |
| 1961-06-28 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 2014-06-11 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 2008-06-11 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 mi | Touched down here |
| 1981-06-23 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 4.9 mi | Crossed in |
| 1978-06-16 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1964-07-10 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 2021-10-09 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 2020-08-21 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest events on record in Marshall County
| Date | Type | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 9, 1968 | Tornado | 0 | 1 | $250K |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
Snow melt brought flooding across much of Marshall county. Many roads along with crop and pastureland were flooded. The lake levels also rose across the county. In the early morning hours of March 18th, the creek northeast of Langford became blocked by snow and ice, causing water to run into Langford streets and the house basements. Some people had a couple of feet of water in their basements. The basements of at least two homes in Langford had collapsed. The water receded during the late afternoon.
Total rainfall in Britton over a 48-hour period exceeded 4.5 inches, overwhelming city drainage systems. This caused flooding in town, with up to six inches of water moving over roads and into some buildings and basements.
Marshall County Emergency Management relayed that multiple rural roads and intersections have running water across them from recent heavy rainfall in and around the towns of Langford, Amherst, Britton and Newport Colony.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Very Low
FEMA NRI risk rating
4,344
Population (ACS)
$157K
Median home value
20
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 6, 2023 | Flood | FLOODING | DR |
| Apr 5, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 | EM |
| Jun 7, 2019 | Flood | SEVERE WINTER STORM, SNOWSTORM, AND FLOODING | DR |
| Feb 1, 2017 | Severe Storm | SEVERE WINTER STORM | DR |
| May 13, 2011 | Flood | FLOODING | DR |
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Marshall County, South Dakota?
346 events are on record between 1957 and 2025, causing 0 direct deaths and $1.3M in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Marshall County?
Hail, with 161 recorded events — 46.5% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Marshall County?
24 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 22 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Marshall County?
20 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Marshall County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Marshall County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Marshall County as very low risk, placing it in the 14 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Marshall County, South Dakota severe weather history data come from?
Every figure is drawn from United States federal public-domain records: NOAA/NCEI Storm Events for the event archive, NOAA SPC SVRGIS for mapped tornado paths, FEMA for disaster declarations and risk ratings, and the U.S. Census for population context. Dates are shown in UTC and recent entries may still be revised by NOAA.
Nearby
Neighbouring counties
- McPherson County 386
- Meade County 1,584
- McCook County 391
- Mellette County 303
- Lyman County 605
- Miner County 232
Cite this page
“Marshall County, South Dakota.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/south-dakota/marshall-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.