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Meade County, SD hail & severe wind history
831 storm reports on file for Meade County between 2010-04-13 and 2026-06-27 — 445 hail and 386 severe thunderstorm wind. That averages 48.9 reports a year, and Jun is the busiest month.
At a glance
- Most recent hail report: Jun 26, 2026 — 1" (quarter), 11.33 mi SSE of Hereford.
- Hail was reported on 170 days since 2010 — about 10.0 hail days a year.
- Largest hail on record: 4.5" (softball) on Jun 1, 2015.
- Meade County has more hail reports than 98% of the 66 South Dakota counties we cover.
Search every Meade County report
Check a single date first, or filter the full record below — pick a year, narrow to a month, or drag the hail-size slider to see only the larger stones (1", quarter size, is the National Weather Service severe threshold).
Loading Meade County storm reports…
Worst storm days in Meade County
| Date | Reports that day | Largest hail | Peak gust |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-07-06 | 20 | 3" (teacup) | 115 mph |
| 2023-06-27 | 15 | 1.75" (golf ball) | 70 mph |
| 2022-06-12 | 14 | 4" (grapefruit) | 77 mph |
| 2015-06-01 | 12 | 4.5" (softball) | 60 mph |
| 2018-06-29 | 12 | 3" (teacup) | 60 mph |
| 2020-06-04 | 11 | 3.2" (teacup) | 60 mph |
| 2024-06-24 | 11 | 3" (teacup) | 60 mph |
| 2013-05-25 | 11 | 2.75" (baseball) | 64 mph |
| 2011-06-24 | 11 | 1.75" (golf ball) | 60 mph |
| 2020-05-23 | 11 | 1.5" (ping pong ball) | 70 mph |
Reports by year
Report counts are driven partly by how many people were around to report a storm, so recent years tend to look busier than the early 2010s. Treat the trend as a reporting trend, not purely a weather trend.
Notable large-hail events (2" and up)
| Date | Size | Near | What was reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-06-28 | 2.5" tennis ball | .85 mi NW of Hereford | Trained Spotter confirmed hail size. |
| 2024-06-24 | 3" teacup | 2.55 mi NW of Black Hawk | Hail to over baseball size fell for 20 minutes. |
| 2024-06-24 | 2.5" tennis ball | 2.3 mi NNW of Black Hawk | Golf ball to tennis ball size hail. |
| 2024-06-24 | 2.75" baseball | 2.03 mi SE of Piedmont | Wind gusts were estimated at up to 50 mph. |
| 2024-06-24 | 2.75" baseball | 2.3 mi NNW of Black Hawk | No narrative filed |
| 2023-07-21 | 2" hen egg | 1 mi W of Piedmont | Hail was mostly around quarter size. |
| 2023-06-23 | 2" hen egg | 2 mi SSW of Opal | No narrative filed |
| 2022-07-07 | 2" hen egg | 5 mi E of Sturgis | No narrative filed |
When does hail hit Meade County?
Across 17 years of records, June produced the most reports (280), followed by the months either side of it. Monthly totals:
| Month | Reports | Share |
|---|---|---|
| January | 0 | 0.0% |
| February | 0 | 0.0% |
| March | 1 | 0.1% |
| April | 20 | 2.4% |
| May | 113 | 13.6% |
| June | 280 | 33.7% |
| July | 258 | 31.0% |
| August | 116 | 14.0% |
| September | 37 | 4.5% |
| October | 6 | 0.7% |
| November | 0 | 0.0% |
| December | 0 | 0.0% |
Neighboring counties
Counties that share a border with Meade County (U.S. Census county adjacency), where we have storm records:
| County | Storm reports | Largest hail |
|---|---|---|
| Pennington County, SD | 1,392 | 4.5" |
| Perkins County, SD | 405 | 3" |
| Butte County, SD | 394 | 6" |
| Lawrence County, SD | 390 | 4.5" |
| Haakon County, SD | 276 | 3" |
| Ziebach County, SD | 229 | 2.75" |
See all 66 South Dakota counties →
Common questions about hail in Meade County
- How often does it hail in Meade County?
- Hail was reported on 170 separate days between 2010 and 2026, about 10.0 days a year, with June the busiest month for storm reports. 379 reports were quarter size (1") or larger.
- Does a report here mean hail hit my street?
- Not necessarily. Each report is one observation tied to a nearby landmark, and a county can be large. Storms also go unreported where few people live. Use the date check above to see what was reported nearby, and treat it as a starting point.
- How big is a 1.75" hailstone?
- Forecasters describe hail by everyday objects: 1" is a quarter, 1.75" a golf ball, 2.75" a baseball. The sizes in these reports are estimates made by the person reporting, not lab measurements.
- Where do I get the official record?
- All reports here come from the NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, which you can search directly. For anything formal, use NOAA’s own records rather than this page.
Look up another place
About these numbers
Every row above is a report filed with the National Weather Service and archived in the NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database (FIPS 46093). Reports are eyewitness, trained-spotter and damage-survey observations, so they cluster near roads and towns and miss storms over empty country. Hail sizes are estimates. Damage figures are preliminary as filed and are never revised in this archive. Use this page for background, not for an insurance claim, a legal filing, or a roof assessment — for those, get the official record from NOAA directly.