Hand County

Every recorded tornado

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

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Apr 1, 2019Flood$830,000
   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…

2. Jun 20, 2024Flash Flood$191,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hand county emergency management and sheriffs office has posted numerous photos of water in basements, water over roads and significant ponding in agricultural areas. Water was widespread across the southern half of the county.

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. Jul 30, 2010Flash Flood$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Very heavy rains of 5 to 10 inches caused the Rosehill Dam to break in the early morning hours in southeast Hand county. Flash flooding began around 1 am CDT with two campers being swept up around 130 am CDT. The two campers clung to a tree until they could be rescued around 6 am CDT. They were both injured with one camper being treated for hypothermia and other airlifted to Sioux Falls to be treated for broken ribs and head trauma. ||The dam broke at 330 am CDT with the spillway breaking at 420 am CDT. There was a 100 to 150 foot hole left by the dam break. The flash flooding continued downstream on Sand Creek causing damage to area farms, filling basements, and flooding many roads.

5. Aug 3, 2005Flash Flood$15,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rains of 3 to 6 inches fell between Highmore and Ree Heights. Many township roads were flooded and a section of railroad tracks was washed out west of Ree Heights.

6. Jun 21, 2013Flash Flood$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flash flooding washed a culvert out of the road.

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

113°FJul 15, 1931

All-time low

−48°FJan 12, 1912

Warmest night

91°FJul 15, 1931

Coldest day

−22°FJan 11, 1912

Wettest day

5.10 inAug 4, 2007

Snowiest day

15.0 inFeb 21, 2011

Hottest year

1987mean 51.3°F

Coldest year

1917mean 40.5°F

Wettest year

201936.53 in

Driest year

19767.60 in

Snowiest season

88.6 in2018-19

Station Miller (USC00395561), 1,576 ft elevation, 0.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1902 to October 3, 2026; 95.4% 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 USC00395561.
• 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.