Perkins County

Every recorded tornado

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

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

River crests

River gauges

1. Crests are the highest and the recent crests the National Weather Service lists for each river gauge in the county that has a flood stage, not every flood. Flood categories use each gauge's current flood stages; crests from before levees, dams or channel changes may not be comparable. Crests measured on an old datum are left out of the rankings.

NOAA National Water Prediction Service gauge records, retrieved October 30, 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.

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. Mar 23, 2009Blizzard, Perkins$4.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A powerful spring storm brought rain, snow, and very strong winds to western South Dakota. Precipitation started as rain, then changed to snow, and blizzard conditions developed. The heaviest snow fell over the northern Black Hills, where 18 to 48 inches of snow was measured. Ten to 20 inches of snow fell across far northwestern South Dakota, with drifts as high as ten feet. Most other locations received at least six inches of snow. Sustained winds of 30 to 55 mph, with gusts over 80 mph, were reported. Interstate 90 and other highways were closed for more than 24 hours. Some power outages were reported, mainly across the northern Black Hills and northwestern South Dakota. Tens of…

2. Jul 8, 2009Hail$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Baseball sized hail and strong wind gusts broke windows and damaged roofs and automobiles in Lemmon.

3. Jun 21, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Straight-line thunderstorm wind gusts were estimated at 75 to 85 mph. Several buildings roofs partially torn off and trees were uprooted from southwest of Lemmon along the south edge of town to east of Lemmon.

4. Mar 30, 2009Blizzard, Perkins$700,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The second blizzard in a week brought heavy snow and strong winds to the western South Dakota plains. Northwest wind gusts to 50 mph produced significant blowing and drifting snow, reducing visibilities to near zero for many hours. Reports of six to 12 inches of snow were common, with higher amounts across northwestern South Dakota. Interstate 90 and many other highways were closed for a considerable period of time. More livestock losses occurred during the peak of calving and lambing season.

5. Jul 21, 2005Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Many trees were downed, power poles blown over east of town, roofs damaged, and windows of houses and automobiles broken by wind driven hail.

6. Jun 5, 2008Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Record flooding was reported along the Moreau River northwest of Faith. Highway 20 west of Bison and Bixby, Cedar Canyon, and Zeona Roads in southern Perkins County were covered by water.

7. Aug 11, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A combination of large hail and high winds in northern Perkins county resulted in nearly total losses in crops, and significant damage to vehicles and buildings in the Lemmon area. Newspaper reports stated golfball sized hail fell for 45 minutes in the southwest portion of Lemmon. The Perkins County Agricultural Extension Agent estimated around 25,000 acres of corn, sunflowers, small grain and rangeland were damaged to the point where they were considered total losses. He also estimated winds of around 80 mph in the Lemmon areas. 5 to 6 inches of rain also fell, which caused minor flooding problems in about 5 percent of the homes and businesses in Lemmon. Over 600 insurance claims…

8. May 25, 2013Hail$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail damaged vehicles and homes in Lemmon.

9. May 22, 2019Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Runoff from heavy rain caused flooding upstream of Shadehill Reservoir and along the Moreau River. Date Road south of SD Highway 20 was closed, Rabbit Creek covered a couple of county roads, a culvert on Zeona Road was washed out, and county roads C5 and C1 were inundated with water.

10. Dec 25, 2016Blizzard, Perkins$230,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    An intense storm system moved across the Northern Plains, producing snow and strong winds across much of western South Dakota. Areas of freezing rain, freezing drizzle, sleet, and snow developed over the area in the morning, before changing to snow. Snowfall was heaviest during the late afternoon and nighttime hours. Four to eight inches of snow were reported across much of western South Dakota, with local amounts as much as a foot. Little or no snow fell across south central South Dakota, where temperatures were warm enough for mostly rain. Embedded thunder was also noted with the precipitation. Strong winds developed late in the day and continued into the next morning, with…

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

111°F2 times, most recently Jul 10, 1936

All-time low

−42°FFeb 10, 1939

Warmest night

80°FJul 11, 1936

Coldest day

−24°FFeb 1, 1917

Wettest day

3.66 inSep 8, 2013

Snowiest day

23.0 inJan 27, 1944

Hottest year

2012mean 49.4°F

Coldest year

1978mean 39.7°F

Wettest year

201928.33 in

Driest year

19364.91 in

Snowiest season

87.9 in2008-09

Station Bison (USC00390701), 2,780 ft elevation, 14.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1916 to August 31, 2026; 96.3% 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 USC00390701.
• 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.