Day County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Day County: 0.
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.

Claims by ZIP code

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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. May 11, 1998Flood, Day$1.9 million
   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…

2. Dec 25, 2016Ice Storm, Day$665,000
   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…

3. Jul 17, 1996Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tornado touched down one mile southwest of Pierpont and traveled east northeast. Two miles east of Pierpont the tornado took out the west wall and the roof of a farmhouse, destroyed a machine shop, a garage, and six grain bins. A truck had its windshield crushed and its side was dented by debris. The tornado also brought down some power lines and several trees in its path.

4. Apr 12, 2023Flood$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Many roadways were flooded, including 447th Avenue south of Waubay.

5. Jul 1, 2005Flood, Day$130,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains of three to seven inches fell across far eastern Brown, western and northern Day, and most of Marshall counties in late June causing widespread flooding. The flood waters slowly receded through July 10th. Many townhip roads and highways were flooded along with thousands of acres of cropland. Water surrounded several homes resulting in people being rescued. Some of the homes were flooded. Many bridges were damaged and roads and culverts were washed out. In Day county, 30 roads were washed out and 15 bridges needed repairs.

6. Apr 1, 2019Flood$104,000
   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…

7. Aug 19, 2009Flash Flood$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous thunderstorms developed along a stationary front and trained over the same locations producing very heavy rains along with large hail. Very heavy rains of 2 to nearly 5 inches resulted in the flash flooding of numerous roads. Several of the roads were washed out. Some rainfall amounts included, 3.05 inches at Warner, 3.15 inches southwest of Bristol, 4.40 inches in Webster, and 4.50 inches east of Warner.

8. 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.

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

108°F2 times, most recently Jul 26, 1894

All-time low

−43°FFeb 1, 1895

Warmest night

79°F3 times, most recently Jul 19, 2011

Coldest day

−20°F2 times, most recently Feb 2, 1996

Wettest day

4.72 inJul 8, 2026

Snowiest day

20.0 inJan 4, 1997

Hottest year

1987mean 48.0°F

Coldest year

1893mean 37.7°F

Wettest year

201937.42 in

Driest year

19767.72 in

Snowiest season

88.3 in1993-94

Station Webster (USC00399004), 1,861 ft elevation, 2.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 23, 2026; 98.2% 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 USC00399004.
• 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.