151
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
2
Direct injuries
$782K
Property damage
Thunderstorm Wind in Union County, South Dakota: 151 recorded events between 1973 and 2025. The strongest on record measured 80. That places the county #1,515 nationally and #33 statewide for this hazard.
Decade by decade
Thunderstorm Wind in Union County, South Dakota: events per decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
The busiest decade for thunderstorm wind in Union County is the 2020s, when 50 of the county's 151 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 Union County archive, thunderstorm wind makes up 30.8% of all recorded severe weather across 7 hazard types. Nationally the county sits at #1,515 for this hazard and #33 within South Dakota, putting it in the 51.7 percentile of all U.S. counties.
Seasonality
Events by month
Jul is the peak month for thunderstorm wind in Union County with 45 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 5, 1994 | Beresford | 0 | 0 | 2 | $50K |
Most recent
Latest recorded events
| Date | Location | Magnitude | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 30, 2025 | JEFFERSON | 59 | $0 |
| Jul 30, 2025 | MC COOK LAKE | 58 | $0 |
| Jul 30, 2025 | ALSEN | 55 | $0 |
| Jul 29, 2025 | ALSEN | 58 | $0 |
| Jul 29, 2025 | ALCESTER | 70 | $0 |
| Jul 29, 2025 | ALSEN | 65 | $0 |
| Jul 29, 2025 | ALSEN | 70 | $0 |
| Jul 28, 2025 | JEFFERSON | 51 | $0 |
| Jul 8, 2025 | ELK PT | 52 | $0 |
| Jul 8, 2025 | RICHLAND | 56 | $0 |
Other hazards here
More from Union County
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
Thunderstorm winds caused widespread damage to trees, power poles, and lines, resulting in power outages affecting most of North Sioux City. Some large trees were sheared from their trunks. Tree debris damaged vehicles, homes, garages, and sheds.
Thunderstorm winds caused widespread tree damage and blew down power lines. Several homes and other buildings in Alcester were damaged, mostly by falling trees or tree debris. The downed and damaged power lines caused power outages.
Thunderstorm winds caused tree and power line damage, resulting in power outages in parts of the county. The winds also destroyed a silo, blew out the wall of a barn, the roof of a shed, windows on the south side of a house, and damaged road signs and outbuildings.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many thunderstorm wind events are on record in Union County, South Dakota?
151 thunderstorm wind events are recorded in Union County between 1973 and 2025, causing 0 direct deaths.
What is the strongest thunderstorm wind recorded in Union County?
The strongest thunderstorm wind on record in Union County measured 80.
Where does the thunderstorm wind data for Union 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
“Thunderstorm Wind in Union County, South Dakota.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/south-dakota/union-county/thunderstorm-wind/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.