Edmunds County, South Dakota
County storm and disaster record · FIPS 46045 · population 3,952 · 1,126 sq mi
NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 819 records for Edmunds County, South Dakota from 1950 through June 30, 2026, on 513 days; the most frequent are hail reports (291 records). The deadliest single record is the January 3, 2014 winter weather, filed for the forecast zone Edmunds, which covers the county: 2 deaths and 1 injury. FEMA has issued 20 declarations naming the county since 1969, 18 of them for natural hazards; the latest for a natural hazard was “Severe Winter Storm, Snowstorm, and Flooding” on June 7, 2019.
The record, 1950 to 2026
Storm records filed for the county each year (2026 to June 30, 2026). Before 1996 NOAA recorded only tornadoes (from 1950), thunderstorm wind and hail (from 1955).
- recorded, no damage figure
- under $100,000
- $100,000 or more
- $1 million or more
- $10 million or more, or a death
- $100 million or more, or 10 deaths
- a year's colour: its recorded damage or deaths
- a year with a death
- 1955: wind and hail recorded from 1955
- 1996: all 48 event types from 1996
- Storm records
- 819on 513 days, 1950 to June 30, 2026
- Deaths recorded
- 32 injuries
- Damage, 2025 dollars
- $18Mas filed (scale steps before 1993)
- Tornadoes
- 27strongest EF4
- FEMA declarations
- 20latest 2020
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026 (file revision 20260918); damage converted to 2025 dollars with the BLS CPI-U. Search the record at NCEI. BLS consumer price index.
What hazards hit Edmunds County most?
The most frequent records are hail reports: 291 since 1960. 54% of its hail reports since 1960 fell in July and August. The rank column places the county among South Dakota's counties by days with a record per 1,000 square miles of land over each hazard's complete period.
| Hazard | Records | Days | First, last | Killed | Injured | Damage | Rank in state |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 291 | 139 | 1960-2026 | 0 | 0 | – | 35 of 66 |
| Severe thunderstorm wind | 202 | 126 | 1959-2026 | 0 | 0 | $100K | 27 of 66 |
| Winter storms | 118 | 116 | 1996-2026 | 3 | 2 | $91K | 42 of 66 |
| High wind and dust storms | 55 | 54 | 1996-2026 | 0 | 0 | – | 53 of 66 |
| Extreme cold | 42 | 42 | 1996-2026 | 0 | 0 | – | 35 of 66 |
| Drought | 37 | 37 | 2002-2025 | 0 | 0 | – | 37 of 66 |
| Floods | 31 | 28 | 1997-2023 | 0 | 0 | $17M | 36 of 66 |
| Tornadoes | 27 | 20 | 1955-2022 | 0 | 0 | $182K | 42 of 66 |
| Heat | 10 | 10 | 2006-2024 | 0 | 0 | – | 40 of 66 |
| Fog, smoke and funnel clouds | 3 | 2 | 2008-2021 | 0 | 0 | – | 36 of 66 |
| Wildfires | 2 | 2 | 2015-2022 | 0 | 0 | – | 13 of 66 |
| Heavy rain | 1 | 1 | 2022-2022 | 0 | 0 | – | 23 of 66 |
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database (county and forecast-zone records attributed to the county; a zone record shows its own totals on each county it covers). Days: dates with at least one record of the hazard in the county. Ranks: days with a record per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer), since 1950 for tornadoes, 1955 for hail and thunderstorm wind, 1996 for the rest.
How many tornadoes has Edmunds County had?
NOAA records 27 tornadoes in Edmunds County from 1955 to 2022, the strongest rated EF4, with 0 deaths and 0 injuries recorded in the county. A tornado that crossed a county line is counted in each county it touched, with the length of its path inside the county.
Counted as whole tornadoes rather than county records, the Storm Prediction Center's database holds 31 tornadoes whose track touched Edmunds County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 27: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 0 people.
| Date | Tornado | Rating | Path | Killed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-05-22 17:21, as SPC files it | Bowdle | EF4 | 5.7 mi | 0 |
Map of the strongest tornado tracks in South Dakota.
Every tornado record filed for Edmunds County (27)
| Date | Place | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-04-23 | Hosmer, Edmunds County | EF0 0.03 mi x 10 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2016-05-28 | Bowdle, Edmunds County | EF0 0.09 mi x 20 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2016-05-28 | Bowdle, Edmunds County | EF0 0.06 mi x 20 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2014-08-23 | Ipswich Taylor Airport, Edmunds County | EF1 1.46 mi x 10 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2010-05-22 | Ipswich Taylor Airport, Edmunds County | EF2 6.74 mi x 200 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2010-05-22 | Beebe, Edmunds County | EF0 0.21 mi x 10 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2010-05-22 | Beebe, Edmunds County | EF0 0.19 mi x 30 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2010-05-22 | Gretna, Edmunds County | EF0 0.28 mi x 30 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2010-05-22 | Bowdle, Edmunds County | EF4 3.86 mi x 1,200 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2005-06-26 | Ipswich, Edmunds County | F0 | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2004-05-29 | Ipswich, Edmunds County | F0 1.5 mi x 30 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2004-05-29 | Ipswich, Edmunds County | F0 1.5 mi x 30 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2001-07-18 | Bowdle, Edmunds County | F2 1 mi x 100 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1997-06-22 | Roscoe, Edmunds County | F0 0.2 mi x 10 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1997-06-22 | Roscoe, Edmunds County | F0 0.1 mi x 25 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1995-05-21 | Edmunds County | F0 0.1 mi x 10 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1991-06-20 | Edmunds County | F0 0.7 mi x 50 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1991-06-13 | Edmunds County | F1 9 mi x 10 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1990-08-25 | Edmunds County | F0 0.5 mi x 10 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1986-06-06 | Edmunds County | F0 0.1 mi x 13 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1984-07-02 | Edmunds County | F0 0.1 mi x 3 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1978-06-06 | Edmunds County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 1976-06-25 | Edmunds County | F1 0.1 mi x 7 yd | 0 | 0 | $3K step |
| 1973-04-19 | Edmunds County | F1 6.4 mi x 20 yd | 0 | 0 | $25K step |
| 1960-05-24 | Edmunds County | F0 3 mi x 200 yd | 0 | 0 | $250 step |
| 1955-07-01 | Edmunds County | F1 0.3 mi x 33 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1955-04-19 | Edmunds County | F2 8.2 mi x 100 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
A damage figure marked "step" is a record from before 1993: NOAA then filed damage by category, and the figure is the category as entered, in the dollars of that year, not an estimate of the loss.
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, tornado records by county (path length in the county, maximum width); ratings as published: F scale before February 1, 2007, EF scale after. Whole-track figures: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database (1950-2025). SPC severe weather database.
When was the last damaging storm in Edmunds County?
The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the June 1, 2019 flood ($17.3 million in damage in 2025 dollars).
Spring snowmelt and heavy rain flooding from March, April, and May continued into June. This combined with above normal June rainfall resulted in hundreds of thousands of acres of crops damaged or unplanted across central and northeast South Dakota. For the entire state of South Dakota, nearly 4 million acres of crops were left unplanted as a result of the flooding. Total damaged or unplanted crop loss estimates for central and northeast South Dakota were near 307 million dollars.
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 863684)
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-09 | Thunderstorm WindMina, Edmunds County | 61 kt wind | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026-06-08 | Thunderstorm WindRoscoe, Edmunds County | 52 kt wind | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026-06-08 | Thunderstorm WindBowdle, Edmunds County | 55 kt wind | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026-05-31 | HailBeebe, Edmunds County | 1.00 in hail | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026-05-31 | HailBeebe, Edmunds County | 1.00 in hail | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026-04-08 | High WindEdmunds County · forecast zone Edmunds | 55 kt wind | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026-04-03 | Heavy SnowEdmunds County · forecast zone Edmunds | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-03-12 | High WindEdmunds County · forecast zone Edmunds | 64 kt wind | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026-02-18 | BlizzardEdmunds County · forecast zone Edmunds | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-01-23 | Extreme Cold/Wind ChillEdmunds County · forecast zone Edmunds | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-01-21 | High WindEdmunds County · forecast zone Edmunds | 54 kt wind | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026-01-16 | High WindEdmunds County · forecast zone Edmunds | 56 kt wind | 0 | 0 | – |
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database; every record of 2025-2026 is listed, earlier ones when they caused deaths, injuries or $250,000 of damage (2025 dollars), and every tornado.
The deadliest and costliest records
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-01-03 | Winter WeatherEdmunds County · forecast zone Edmunds Light freezing rain glazed the roads across parts of north central and northeast South Dakota during the mid afternoon hours. Due to slick roads, there was a two car and one semi accident six miles west of Mina on Highway 12 in eastern Edmunds County. The first car spun out on the ice and was hit by the semi. The ... | 2 | 1 | – | |
| 2010-11-24 | Winter WeatherEdmunds County · forecast zone Edmunds A 15 year old boy lost control of his vehicle on an icy road and collided with another vehicle on South Dakota Highway 45 two miles south of Ipswich. The teenager died at the scene. The driver of the other vehicle received minor injuries. | 1 | 1 | – |
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-06-01 | FloodBowdle, Edmunds County | 0 | 0 | $17M | |
| 1994-07-18 | Thunderstorm WindMina Lake, Edmunds County | 0 | 0 | $100K |
Before 1993 NOAA filed damage by category, not amount, so the list above starts in 1993. The highest category filed here before then (entered as $25K, in the dollars of the day) holds: April 19, 1973 (tornado, Edmunds County).
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: deaths and injuries direct and indirect; damage is property plus crops as estimated by the National Weather Service, converted to 2025 dollars.
Is it getting more frequent?
Records per decade for Edmunds County's most frequent hazards. Counts rose everywhere after 1996, when NOAA began recording every event type, so compare decades within a hazard's complete period only (the shaded cells come before it).
| Hazard | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020-26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 0 | 2 | 5 | 13 | 40 | 106 | 86 | 39 |
| Severe thunderstorm wind | 1 | 1 | 7 | 27 | 32 | 34 | 48 | 52 |
| Winter storms | – | – | – | – | 19 | 27 | 52 | 20 |
| High wind and dust storms | – | – | – | – | 7 | 5 | 12 | 31 |
| Extreme cold | – | – | – | – | 2 | 7 | 20 | 13 |
| Drought | – | – | – | – | 0 | 5 | 17 z | 15 |
Drought in the 2010s: 17 records against 5 in the decade before, 17 of them forecast-zone records. Cells marked z rose mostly through zone records. The local National Weather Service office files these once per forecast zone, so a change in how it draws its zones or splits a storm into records moves this count as much as the weather does; read it beside the Edmunds County days with a record above.
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records per calendar decade; zone records from the CZ_TYPE field (Z).
What time of year?
54% of its hail reports since 1960 fell in July and August. The two busiest months are in violet.
The values, month by month
Jan 43 · Feb 42 · Mar 36 · Apr 40 · May 74 · Jun 148 · Jul 180 · Aug 140 · Sep 31 · Oct 15 · Nov 26 · Dec 44 (records).
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began.
Federal disaster declarations for Edmunds County
FEMA's register lists 20 declarations that include Edmunds County: 17 major disasters, 3 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for flood (8) and severe storm (7).
| Declared | Number | Type | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-04-05 | DR-4527 | Biological | Covid-19 Pandemic |
| 2020-03-13 | EM-3475 | Biological | Covid-19 |
| 2019-06-07 | DR-4440 | Flood | Severe Winter Storm, Snowstorm, and Flooding |
| 2017-02-01 | DR-4298 | Severe Storm | Severe Winter Storm |
| 2011-05-13 | DR-1984 | Flood | Flooding |
| 2010-05-13 | DR-1915 | Flood | Flooding |
| 2010-03-10 | DR-1887 | Severe Storm | Severe Winter Storm |
| 2009-06-16 | DR-1844 | Severe Storm | Severe Storms and Flooding |
| 2005-12-20 | DR-1620 | Severe Storm | Severe Winter Storm |
| 2005-09-10 | EM-3234 | Coastal Storm | Hurricane Katrina Evacuation |
| 2001-05-17 | DR-1375 | Flood | Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, and Ice Jams |
| 1997-04-07 | DR-1173 | Flood | Severe Flooding, Sever Winter Storms,Heavy Rains High Winds |
| 1997-01-10 | DR-1156 | Severe Storm | Severe Winter Storms and Blizzard Conditions |
| 1995-05-26 | DR-1052 | Flood | Flooding |
| 1995-03-14 | DR-1045 | Snowstorm | Severe Winter Storms |
| 1994-06-21 | DR-1031 | Severe Storm | Severe Storms and Flooding |
| 1993-07-19 | DR-999 | Severe Storm | Severe Storms, Tornadoes & Flooding |
| 1986-05-03 | DR-764 | Flood | Severe Storms & Flooding |
| 1976-06-17 | EM-3015 | Drought | Drought |
| 1969-04-18 | DR-257 | Flood | Flooding |
Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), declarations through October 2, 2026; one declaration is counted once however many areas it names. OpenFEMA dataset page.
How many floods has Edmunds County had?
NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 31 flood or flash flood records for Edmunds County from 1997 to 2023, on 28 days, with 0 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Edmunds County ranks 2523rd of 2,942 U.S. counties.
The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $3,269 on 6 claims filed in Edmunds County; the most in one year was 2 in 2011. Claims count insured losses only: uninsured flood damage is not in this file.
The values, year by year
1978: 1 · 1999: 1 · 2010: 1 · 2011: 2 · 2020: 1; the other years: 0.
Source: FEMA OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims, as of September 8, 2026; claims by year of loss, payments in the dollars of the year paid. OpenFEMA dataset page.
FEMA's modeled risk for Edmunds County
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Edmunds County Very Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $5.3 million. These are FEMA's model estimates of future loss from 18 hazards, not a count of what happened; they can differ from the record above.
| Hazard | Risk rating | Expected annual loss | Modeled frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | $231K | 19 a year (modeled) |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | $236K | once in about 1,211 years (modeled) |
| Hail | Relatively Low | $484K | 3.7 a year (modeled) |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Low | $1.7M | 12 a year (modeled) |
| Ice Storm | Relatively Low | $127K | once in about 2 years (modeled) |
| Drought | Relatively Low | $178K | 9 modeled event-days a year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | $320K | 2.5 a year (modeled) |
| Tornado | Very Low | $445K | once in about 2 years (modeled) |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index, county table, December 2025 release. FEMA's National Risk Index map.
Counties that share a border with Edmunds County
Source: U.S. Census Bureau county adjacency file; NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records since 1950. The Census Bureau's adjacency file.
Next
- Tornadoes in South DakotaEvery South Dakota tornado since 1950 and the counties with the most per square mile
- Hail in South DakotaThe state's hail reports, by county, year and month
- The South Dakota recordEvery hazard in the state, its deadliest events and its federal declarations
- FEMA's risk rating for each hazard in Edmunds CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
- Download Edmunds County's FEMA declarations (CSV)20 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis