South Dakota winter storms
Every recorded winter storm record since 1996 · 66 counties with a record
NOAA's Storm Events Database records 10,128 winter storm records in South Dakota from 1996 through June 30, 2026, about 342 a year since 2000. The deadliest was the December 13, 2022 blizzard in Todd County: 6 deaths across 2 records. South Dakota ranks 8th of 51 states and territories by count and 25th of 50 per square mile.
Winter storms in South Dakota, 1996 to 2026
Winter storm records per year (NOAA Storm Events); 2026 to June 30, 2026.
- recorded, no damage figure
- under $1 million
- $1 million or more
- $10 million or more
- $100 million or more, or 10 deaths
- $1 billion or more, or 100 deaths
- a year's colour: its recorded damage or deaths
- a year with a death
- Records
- 10,1281996 to June 30, 2026
- A year since 2000
- 342average
- Deaths
- 73228 injuries
- Damage, 2025 dollars
- $247Mas filed
- Busiest year
- 2018722 records
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; deaths and damage as filed, damage in 2025 dollars. Search the record at NCEI.
Are winter storm records common in South Dakota?
South Dakota averages about 342 winter storm records a year since 2000, 8th of 51 states and territories by count. The busiest year on record was 2018 (722). Per 10,000 square miles of land, South Dakota records 1336 winter storm records since 1996, 25th of 50 states and territories by that measure.
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records since 1996, per 10,000 square miles of land area (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer; places under 1,000 square miles not ranked). Damage colours: Storm Events damage, 2025 dollars.
Which counties in South Dakota have the most winter storm records?
Per square mile, Clay County leads South Dakota: 158 days with a winter storm record since 1996, 383.5 per 1,000 square miles of land. By raw count, Meade County has the most winter storm records (551 since 1996); large counties collect more records simply by covering more ground, so the ranking counts days with a record per unit of area (a storm filed for several forecast zones adds several records but one day).
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, days with a record in the county since 1996 per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer); in brackets, the count of records.
When is winter storm season in South Dakota?
South Dakota's winter storm records by month. The busiest month is December (2,218 records).
The values, month by month
Jan 1,576 · Feb 1,761 · Mar 1,784 · Apr 1,181 · May 84 · Jun 2 · Jul 0 · Aug 0 · Sep 18 · Oct 336 · Nov 1,168 · Dec 2,218 (records).
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began, since 1996.
What were the deadliest winter storm records in South Dakota?
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-12-13 | BlizzardTodd County · forecast zone Todd One storm episode: 2 records in 2 places; the totals are the episode's. A powerful winter storm moved slowly across the central and northern Plains to the upper Midwest; bringing heavy snow, some mixed precipitation, strong winds, and periods of blizzard or near blizzard conditions across the plains for a multi-day period. Snowfall was heaviest from northwestern to south central South ... | 6 | 0 | – | |
| 1996-11-14 | Ice StormAurora County · forecast zone Aurora One storm episode: 6 records in 6 places; the totals are the episode's. An ice storm consisting of several periods of freezing rain caused widespread damage and paralyzed travel. Widespread damage occurred to electrical poles and lines, leaving thousands without power for up to four days. Numerous accidents occurred, including many vehicles which slid off the road. One fatality occurred ... | 3 | 50 | $3.0M | |
| 1996-01-10 | Ice StormCodington County · forecast zone Codington One storm episode: 2 records in 2 places; the totals are the episode's. A narrow band of freezing rain caused major disruption to traffic just after the beginning of rush hour, especially in the cities of Sioux Falls and Watertown. Over one hundred accidents occurred, including a collision near Watertown which caused 3 fatalities. The ice accumulation was not enough to cause significant ... | 3 | 16 | $564K | |
| 2013-10-03 | BlizzardLawrence County · forecast zone Northern Black Hills A historic blizzard pounded western South Dakota with record-setting snowfall and strong winds for almost 48 hours from the evening of October 3 through the afternoon of October 5. One to two feet of snow was reported over the plains of western South Dakota, with three to five feet of snow falling over the northern ... | 3 | 0 | – | |
| 2018-03-10 | Winter WeatherHutchinson County · forecast zone Hutchinson Light freezing rain produced ice accumulations up a tenth of an inch. There were three fatalities south of Parkston, SD on state highway 37 when a teenage driver lost control on icy roads, crossed the center line and collided with a semi-truck traveling in the opposite direction. | 3 | 0 | – | |
| 1997-01-09 | BlizzardCorson County · forecast zone Corson One storm episode: 3 records in 3 places; the totals are the episode's. A powerful Alberta Clipper and a deep Arctic High brought widespread and prolonged blizzard conditions, heavy drifting snow, and dangerous wind chills of 40 to 80 below to central and northeast South Dakota. North winds were from 30 to 50 mph gusting to 60 mph. The clipper dropped from 2 to 7 inches of snowfall on top ... | 2 | 3 | – | |
| 2022-01-26 | Winter WeatherCodington County · forecast zone Codington A single roll-over vehicle accident occurred on Interstate 29 due to icy roadways. Two occupants were transported to the hospital with minor injuries. | 2 | 2 | – | |
| 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 | – | |
| 2011-04-15 | Winter WeatherHamlin County · forecast zone Hamlin One male and one female in their late twenties were killed around 830 am CDT on the 15th on a slushy U.S. Highway 81. The third person in the car was injured-non life threatening. The car they were driving was hit by a large truck. | 2 | 1 | – | |
| 2025-04-01 | Winter StormGrant County · forecast zone Grant One storm episode: 11 records in 11 places, 2025-04-01 to 2025-04-02; the totals are the episode's. A system to the south looped up into Minnesota, generating a band of heavy snow and strong winds across mainly northeast South Dakota, with a lull and partial melting before wrap around precipitation and a re-freeze resulted in additional ice and snowfall. Heavy snow and ice created slick roads and at times ... | 2 | 1 | – |
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: deaths direct and indirect, as filed by the National Weather Service, summed over each storm (one episode, or one named storm filed by several offices). Storm names from the titles of FEMA declarations that name the storm's counties.
The costliest winter storm records in South Dakota
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997-04-05 | BlizzardBennett County · forecast zone Bennett | 0 | 0 | $92M | |
| 2013-04-09 | Winter StormMinnehaha County · forecast zone Minnehaha One storm episode: 6 records in 6 places; the totals are the episode's. | 0 | 0 | $57M | |
| 2009-03-23 | BlizzardButte County · forecast zone Butte One storm episode: 11 records in 10 places; the totals are the episode's. | 0 | 0 | $39M | |
| 2016-12-25 | Ice StormWalworth County · forecast zone Walworth One storm episode: 9 records in 9 places; the totals are the episode's. | 1 | 0 | $8.9M | |
| 2008-11-05 | BlizzardMeade County and Pennington County · forecast zone Rapid City One storm episode: 10 records in 8 places; the totals are the episode's. | 1 | 0 | $6.1M | |
| 2006-04-18 | Winter StormLawrence County · forecast zone Northern Foot Hills One storm episode: 6 records in 6 places; the totals are the episode's. | 0 | 0 | $5.9M | |
| 2019-04-11 | BlizzardLake County · forecast zone Lake One storm episode: 4 records in 4 places; the totals are the episode's. | 0 | 0 | $5.5M | |
| 2009-03-30 | BlizzardPerkins County · forecast zone Perkins One storm episode: 10 records in 10 places; the totals are the episode's. | 0 | 0 | $4.1M |
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: property and crop damage as estimated by the National Weather Service, in 2025 dollars.
Are winter storm records becoming more frequent in South Dakota?
South Dakota's count per decade against the whole country's, and its share. NOAA recorded every event type only from 1996, so earlier decades are not comparable; the share of the national total is the fairer comparison across decades.
| Decade | South Dakota | United States | South Dakota's share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996-99 | 1,163 | 32,893 | 3.5% |
| 2000s | 2,646 | 88,805 | 3.0% |
| 2010s | 3,972 | 103,626 | 3.8% |
| 2020-26 | 2,347 | 62,015 | 3.8% |
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database.
The most recent winter storm records in South Dakota
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-04-03 | Heavy SnowDay County · forecast zone Day | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-04-03 | Heavy SnowCorson County · forecast zone Corson | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-04-03 | Heavy SnowDewey County · forecast zone Dewey | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-04-03 | Heavy SnowCampbell County · forecast zone Campbell | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-04-03 | Heavy SnowEdmunds County · forecast zone Edmunds | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-04-03 | Heavy SnowMcPherson County · forecast zone McPherson | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-04-03 | Heavy SnowBrown County · forecast zone Brown | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-04-03 | Heavy SnowMarshall County · forecast zone Marshall | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-04-03 | Heavy SnowRoberts County · forecast zone Roberts | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-03-15 | BlizzardBrule County · forecast zone Brule | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-03-15 | BlizzardJerauld County · forecast zone Jerauld | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-03-15 | BlizzardGregory County · forecast zone Gregory | 0 | 0 | – |
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; the newest months are revised by NCEI as reports arrive. Search the record at NCEI.
Federal disaster declarations for winter storm records in South Dakota
FEMA has declared 22 disasters in South Dakota for winter storm, counting its incident type and declarations that name snow or winter storm or ice storm or blizzard in the title (FEMA files most storm disasters under Severe Storm); 22 were major disasters, the latest on February 27, 2023.
| Declared | Number | Title | Areas named |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-02-27 | DR-4689 | Severe Winter Storms and Snowstorm | 17 |
| 2023-02-20 | DR-4688 | Severe Winter Storms and Snowstorm | 1 |
| 2023-02-20 | DR-4687 | Severe Winter Storms and Snowstorm | 1 |
| 2019-06-20 | DR-4448 | Severe Winter Storm, Snowstorm, and Flooding | 1 |
| 2019-06-07 | DR-4440 | Severe Winter Storm, Snowstorm, and Flooding | 62 |
| 2017-02-01 | DR-4298 | Severe Winter Storm | 27 |
| 2013-11-08 | DR-4155 | Severe Winter Storm, Snowstorm, and Flooding | 16 |
| 2013-05-10 | DR-4115 | Severe Winter Storm and Snowstorm | 8 |
| 2010-05-13 | DR-1914 | Severe Winter Storm | 3 |
| 2010-03-10 | DR-1887 | Severe Winter Storm | 32 |
| 2010-03-09 | DR-1886 | Severe Winter Storm and Snowstorm | 15 |
| 2008-12-12 | DR-1811 | Severe Winter Storm and Record and Near Record Snow | 17 |
Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026. OpenFEMA dataset page.
Next
- Clay County: the county's whole recordThe South Dakota county with the most winter storm records per square mile
- Winter storms across the United StatesEvery state ranked, by year and month
- Every natural hazard in South DakotaTornadoes, floods, storms, heat and the federal declarations
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- High wind and dust storms in South Dakota5,265 records