Deuel County, South Dakota severe weather history spans 264 recorded events between 1956 and 2025. The dominant hazard is thunderstorm wind, accounting for 40.5% of all recorded events. It ranks #2,013 nationally and #61 in South Dakota.
264
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
4
Direct injuries
$639K
Property damage
The record
What the Deuel County, South Dakota severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Deuel County, South Dakota severe weather history averages 3.8 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2000s, with 69 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 46 events fall before 1990 and 218 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The costliest is flash flood, with $230K 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 Deuel County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 107 | 0 | $198K | 89 | 1956–2025 |
| Hail | 99 | 0 | $0 | 3 | 1970–2025 |
| Tornado | 36 | 0 | $73K | F2 | 1970–2025 |
| Flash Flood | 8 | 0 | $230K | 0 | 2001–2025 |
| Flood | 8 | 0 | $129K | 0 | 2010–2025 |
| Funnel Cloud | 4 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2010–2025 |
| Lightning | 2 | 0 | $10K | 0 | 1996–2021 |
Decade by decade
Deuel 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
41 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 38 touched down inside it and 3 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961-06-21 | EF3 | 1 | 7 | 156.3 mi | Crossed in |
| 2025-06-28 | EF3 | 0 | 2 | 9.7 mi | Touched down here |
| 2022-05-30 | EF3 | 0 | 0 | 13.3 mi | Touched down here |
| 2025-06-28 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 3.4 mi | Touched down here |
| 2022-05-12 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 0.4 mi | Touched down here |
| 2022-05-30 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 12.4 mi | Touched down here |
| 2022-05-12 | EF2 | 0 | 1 | 0.4 mi | Touched down here |
| 1986-07-18 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 17.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 1971-06-19 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1971-06-19 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 36.8 mi | Crossed in |
Significant events
Deadliest events on record in Deuel County
| Date | Type | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 29, 2025 | Tornado | CLEAR LAKE | 0 | 2 | $0 |
| May 12, 2022 | Tornado | GARY | 0 | 1 | $0 |
| Apr 25, 1989 | Thunderstorm Wind | 0 | 1 | $0 |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
A tornado touched down on a farm, uprooting and snapping trees. Every tree on the property was damaged in some way. The tornadic winds drove 2 inch branches underneath the tires of a goose neck trailer with a load of culverts aboard. The wind also drove 2 inch thick tree branches through a metal 40" by 72" quonset, leaving a hole three feet long. Also, 3 walls of a machine shed were blown down, 2 pickups were damaged and metal culverts were thrown about and twisted. A wheelbarrow was pushed for 15 feet, tipping over a motorcycle. Two overhead doors were blown out and one was bashed, damaging a camper. Path length and width were estimated.
A grain bin in a field near 496th Ave and 179th Street was ripped from the base and tossed a mile to the northeast. Roughly three and a half miles northeast on 176th St a farmstead lost several outbuildings and had roof and window damage to the home. Another two miles to the northeast three metal truss transmission towers were damaged, one completely twisted and collapsed. The strongest winds were confined to the area of the transmission towers. Roughly three and a half miles northeast, just north of US Highway 212, a shed was destroyed and a path was noted through a shelterbelt. The very last indications of the tornado was north of 169th Street on 476th Ave where the path was noted through a shelter belt.
A residence 2 miles northwest of Gary, SD had a barn roof damaged and a horse trailer rolled multiple times. A second residence, about 3 miles northwest of Gary, had a track of damage through their farm yard. An ash tree snapped at the trunk and fell on to the corner of the house. A single stall garage, which was bolted to the foundation, was lifted off the foundation and overturned. The vehicle in the garage was not damaged. A second garage to the north lost two thirds of its roof panels. Another machine shed|had a portion of the south wall pushed in. All debris from buildings was lofted to the northeast. A mostly empty grain bin was also ripped from the foundation and tossed across 485th Ave and into the neighboring field, coming to rest about 200 yards to|the northeast. Residents were without commercial power for two days.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Very Low
FEMA NRI risk rating
4,328
Population (ACS)
$206K
Median home value
24
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 27, 2023 | Winter Storm | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND SNOWSTORM | DR |
| Jun 29, 2022 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORM, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR |
| Apr 5, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 | EM |
| Sep 23, 2019 | Flood | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR |
| Jun 7, 2019 | Flood | SEVERE WINTER STORM, SNOWSTORM, AND FLOODING | DR |
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Deuel County, South Dakota?
264 events are on record between 1956 and 2025, causing 0 direct deaths and $639K in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Deuel County?
Thunderstorm Wind, with 107 recorded events — 40.5% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Deuel County?
41 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 38 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Deuel County?
24 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Deuel County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Deuel County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Deuel County as very low risk, placing it in the 7 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Deuel 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
- Day County 456
- Dewey County 516
- Davison County 467
- Douglas County 227
- Custer County 974
- Edmunds County 547
Cite this page
“Deuel County, South Dakota.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/south-dakota/deuel-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.