1,614
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
21
Direct injuries
$67.6M
Property damage
Hail in Pennington County, South Dakota: 1,614 recorded events between 1955 and 2025. The strongest on record measured 4.5. That places the county #2 nationally and #1 statewide for this hazard.
Decade by decade
Hail in Pennington County, South Dakota: events per decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
The busiest decade for hail in Pennington County is the 2010s, when 575 of the county's 1,614 recorded events were logged. Comparing decades is useful for spotting active periods, but the earliest years are thin because systematic reporting for this hazard began later.
Within the Pennington County archive, hail makes up 67.1% of all recorded severe weather across 9 hazard types. Nationally the county sits at #2 for this hazard and #1 within South Dakota, putting it in the 100.0 percentile of all U.S. counties.
Seasonality
Events by month
Jul is the peak month for hail in Pennington County with 600 recorded events, while Jan is the quietest. Seasonality here is a property of the archive as much as the climate: reports cluster where population and spotter networks are densest.
Significant events
Deadliest on record
| Date | Location | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 21, 1996 | MOUNT RUSHMORE | 2 | 0 | 15 | $150K |
| Jun 13, 1996 | PLACERVILLE | 1.75 | 0 | 5 | $1K |
| Aug 8, 2020 | PACTOLA RESERVOIR | 4.5 | 0 | 1 | $0 |
Most recent
Latest recorded events
| Date | Location | Magnitude | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 20, 2025 | RAPID CITY | 1 | $0 |
| Jul 20, 2025 | RAPID CITY | 1 | $0 |
| Jul 20, 2025 | ROCKERVILLE | 1 | $0 |
| Jul 20, 2025 | SILVER CITY | 1 | $0 |
| Jul 20, 2025 | RAPID CITY | 1 | $0 |
| Jul 18, 2025 | CREIGHTON | 1.5 | $0 |
| Jul 6, 2025 | RAPID CITY | 1 | $0 |
| Jul 6, 2025 | RAPID CITY | 1 | $0 |
| Jul 6, 2025 | ROCKERVILLE | 0.88 | $0 |
| Jul 6, 2025 | RAPID CITY | 0.75 | $0 |
Other hazards here
More from Pennington County
- Thunderstorm Wind 631
- Tornado 49
- Flood 44
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
A rare winter thunderstorm built over the northern Black Hills and moved across the length of Pennington County and Rapid City. Large hail from 0.75 to two inches fell, accompanied by strong micro-burst winds of 50 to 60 mph. Several reports of structural damage were reported, in the form of paint and siding damage, south as Custer County.
A thunderstorm left a narrow path of quarter to half inch diameter hail, with a few stones to the size of quarters and half dollars, three to six inches deep along US Highway 16 at Beretta Road southwest of Rockerville. Snowplows were used to clear the highway.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many hail events are on record in Pennington County, South Dakota?
1,614 hail events are recorded in Pennington County between 1955 and 2025, causing 0 direct deaths.
What is the strongest hail recorded in Pennington County?
The strongest hail on record in Pennington County measured 4.5.
Where does the hail data for Pennington County come from?
All events come from the NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database, the federal public-domain archive of severe weather reports. Dates are UTC, damage is as reported and not inflation-adjusted, and the most recent entries may still be revised.
Cite this page
“Hail in Pennington County, South Dakota.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/south-dakota/pennington-county/hail/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.