Clark County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Clark County: 1.
2. Weak tornadoes were under-recorded before Doppler radar coverage became national in the early 1990s, so earlier decades read low. Ratings use the Fujita scale before February 2007 and the Enhanced Fujita scale after.

Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, 1950 to 2025.

Every large fire

1. Large fires mapped by the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity program since 1984: 1,000 acres or more in the West, 500 or more in the East. Prescribed burns are excluded. Acres here are the part of each perimeter inside this place.

Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service), 1984 to 2026.

Smoke overhead

1. A smoke day is a date on which a smoke plume traced by NOAA Hazard Mapping System analysts from satellite imagery covered this place's point (the county's population centre or the city centre). Counts here are of medium or heavy smoke. Since 2018 analysts have often drawn light smoke as one area over most of the continent, so light-smoke counts are not comparable from year to year. The plumes show smoke anywhere in the air above, not air quality at the ground, and smoke hidden by cloud is missed.

NOAA Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, 2011 to 2026, retrieved October 30, 2026.

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 2026.

1. The Palmer Drought Severity Index is computed by NOAA each month from the county's average temperature and precipitation, relative to the county's own climate. Zero is normal; -3 or lower is severe drought and -4 or lower extreme drought. It describes the long-term balance of moisture, not water supply or crop losses.

NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, 1895 to September 2026, issued October 6, 2026.

Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles

1. Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more in the USGS Comprehensive Catalog since 1900. Within 50 miles means the epicentre lies within 50 miles of the county boundary (or inside the county).
2. Small earthquakes were under-recorded before the modern seismic networks of the 1970s and are still missed in remote areas, so early decades read low. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them and mix scales (moment, local and body-wave).

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, 1900 to present, retrieved October 30, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Apr 7, 2001Flood, Clark$320,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain of 1 to 3 inches combined with snowmelt runoff brought flooding to parts of northeast South Dakota. Many roads across Clark, Grant, Hamlin, Deuel, and Roberts counties were flooded and damaged. Floodwater moving towards the town of Willow Lake overpowered culverts and flooded several homes and several streets. Highway 28 had to be cut through to allow the water to flow away from the town, averting a disaster. Highwater from the creek west of Corona in far Southern Roberts county flowed towards Corona. As a result, 3 1/2 feet of water coursed through town flooding several homes and streets and knocking out the sewer system. Also, 1000 feet of railroad track was damaged…

2. May 11, 1998Flood, Clark$260,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain of 2 to 4 inches with some amounts nearing 5 inches fell across a large part of the six county area mainly on the evening of the 11th. This round of heavy rain only exacerbated the already extensive flooding occurring from many years of above normal precipitation. Day county was most affected by this round of heavy rain where area lakes were already at new record levels. Blue Dog, Waubay, Rush, and Bitter Lake in Day County were just a few of the lakes hard hit again. In fact, extensive sandbagging was done around Blue Dog Lake to save many homes. Some residents of Blue Dog Lake said they had never seen the lake so high in over 35 years of living there. Many more roads…

3. Apr 10, 2023Flood$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The snowfall during the season in northeast and central South Dakota exceeded normal levels, with many locations ranking among the top 10 for the snowiest seasons. Additionally, the late spring conditions were unusually cold, resulting in a persistent and exceptionally deep snowpack until early April. The depth of the snowpack ranged from 15 to 30 plus inches, containing approximately 4 to 8 inches of snow water equivalent. However, the weather pattern shifted to abnormally warm conditions in the middle of April. Starting from April 9th, temperatures rapidly rose into the 40s and 50s in areas with deep snowpack, and occasionally reached the 60s and 70s thereafter. The rapid…

4. Apr 1, 2019Flood$121,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The continuation of snowmelt from a much above normal snowfall winter combined with a historic heavy snow/blizzard in mid-April resulted in widespread flooding across central and northeast South Dakota. Countless roads along with thousands of acres of cropland were flooded throughout April. Impacts include damaged roads, culverts, and bridges, and livestock, homes, and businesses were affected. Delayed planting resulted across all of the region as well. Cattle and calves were stressed by the cold and wet pattern, as the mud and cold caused some sickness with the livestock. Flooded roads made it difficult for many farmers or ranchers to get to their fields or livestock. There was a…

5. Dec 25, 2016Ice Storm, Clark$33,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An intense surface low pressure area moved from northeast Colorado to South Dakota from the 24th through the 26th. This storm was unusually warm for the region for late December and produced record breaking heavy rain along with flooding in some cases. Significant icing occurred across areas at or just below the freezing point, which resulted in widespread tree and power pole and line damage to the area. Some downed branches and trees fell onto homes across the region. This storm also brought high winds along with snow and blizzard conditions to the region. This significant storm resulted in massive power outages, stranded motorists and closed roads. ||Ice accumulations were…

6. Feb 10, 1996High Wind, Clark$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong gradient winds with gusts to 67 mph spread across eastern South Dakota on the morning of February 10th and continued into the early evening hours. Small structures were blown over or otherwise damaged, and damage occurred to homes and other large structures; mainly roof damage. A few semis andother high profile vehicles were overturned. A small airplane was overturned at Sioux Falls. Visibility was reduced greatly at times in parts of the area because of blowing snow and blowing dust.

7. Apr 6, 2006Flash Flood$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains of 3 to 6 inches fell from around midday through the afternoon hours causing flash flooding across parts of Spink, Clark, and Day counties. Many county and township roads were flooded with several of the roads damaged or completely washed out. Areas around Frankfort, Doland, Turton, Conde, Crandall, Raymond, Butler, and Bristol were most affected. Many roads were closed. Also, several basements were flooded and sewers were backed up.

8. Mar 24, 1996Blizzard, Clark$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Snow accumulating 3 to 8 inches was accompanied by winds over 50 mph at times, producing widespread whiteout conditions. Numerous vehicles slid into ditches and many people were stranded in vehicles. There were some rollovers and other accidents, including a fatality near Tripp in Hutchinson County. Some power outages occurred due to downed or whipping power lines. Other damage was caused by the strong winds, including the roof blown off of a golf clubhouse at Parker in Turner County. Many roads, including interstate highways, were closed or blocked, and schools and businesses were closed or forced to delay opening on the 25th. Wind chills were as low as 40 below zero.

9. Jul 9, 2025Lightning$2,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning struck the Clark water tower, destroying the generator transfer switch and the emergency services repeater.

1. Storm Events records before 1996 cover only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail. Damage figures are as reported by the National Weather Service at the time, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 1950 to 2026, issued October 26, 2026.

All-time high

110°FJul 21, 1934

All-time low

−40°FJan 13, 1916

Warmest night

78°F4 times, most recently Jul 16, 2012

Coldest day

−25°FFeb 8, 1899

Wettest day

7.14 inMay 27, 1931

Snowiest day

19.0 inApr 25, 2008

Hottest year

1987mean 48.7°F

Coldest year

1917mean 38.5°F

Wettest year

197740.04 in

Driest year

197610.82 in

Snowiest season

81.7 in2018-19

Station Watertown Regional Airport (USW00014946), 1,741 ft elevation, 27.9 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 26, 2026; 99.8% of days in the last 30 years are complete. Records at a single station can differ from a city’s official threaded record, which may combine several stations.

NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily.

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, retrieved October 30, 2026. Statewide declarations are not listed.

Neighbouring counties

• Tornadoes NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, through 2025.
• Tropical cyclones NOAA National Hurricane Center HURDAT2 (Atlantic; Northeast and Central Pacific), through 2025.
• Wildfire USGS/USFS Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity, through 2026.
• Storm events NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, through 2026.
• Flood insurance OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026.
• Declarations OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Weather records NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily, station USW00014946.
• River crests NOAA National Weather Service, National Water Prediction Service river gauges, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Drought NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, through September 2026.
• Smoke NOAA NESDIS Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Earthquakes USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat), retrieved October 30, 2026.

Joins, thresholds and known limits are set out in the methodology. Found an error? Report it. Page built October 30, 2026.