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Pennington County, SD hail & severe wind history
1,392 storm reports on file for Pennington County between 2010-05-24 and 2026-06-27 — 966 hail and 426 severe thunderstorm wind. That averages 81.9 reports a year, and Jul is the busiest month.
At a glance
- Most recent hail report: Jun 22, 2026 — 1.75" (golf ball), 2.1 mi WSW of Rapid City.
- Hail was reported on 249 days since 2010 — about 14.6 hail days a year.
- Largest hail on record: 4.5" (softball) on Jun 12, 2022.
- Pennington County has the most hail reports of the 66 South Dakota counties we cover.
Search every Pennington 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 Pennington County storm reports…
Worst storm days in Pennington County
| Date | Reports that day | Largest hail | Peak gust |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-07-10 | 24 | 3.25" (teacup) | 81 mph |
| 2023-07-11 | 22 | 2" (hen egg) | — |
| 2019-07-08 | 19 | 2.25" (hen egg) | 60 mph |
| 2020-07-06 | 17 | 2.75" (baseball) | 60 mph |
| 2020-07-05 | 16 | 2.5" (tennis ball) | 71 mph |
| 2020-06-04 | 16 | 2.5" (tennis ball) | 76 mph |
| 2017-08-14 | 16 | 1.75" (golf ball) | 66 mph |
| 2019-07-14 | 15 | 2" (hen egg) | — |
| 2025-06-15 | 15 | — | 66 mph |
| 2023-07-03 | 14 | 2.75" (baseball) | 63 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-06-25 | 2" hen egg | 8.65 mi SSE of Creighton | No narrative filed |
| 2024-06-24 | 2.25" hen egg | 3 mi SSE of Silver City | No narrative filed |
| 2023-08-12 | 2" hen egg | 0 mi N of Sheridan Lake | No narrative filed |
| 2023-07-30 | 2" hen egg | 1 mi ENE of Pactola Reservoir | No narrative filed |
| 2023-07-30 | 2.75" baseball | 1 mi ESE of Silver City | No narrative filed |
| 2023-07-30 | 3" teacup | 1 mi SSE of Pactola Reservoir | No narrative filed |
| 2023-07-30 | 2.5" tennis ball | 3 mi N of Sheridan Lake | Several roofs were damaged and vehicle windshields were broken by tennis ball sized hail. |
| 2023-07-30 | 2.5" tennis ball | 2 mi S of Pactola Reservoir | No narrative filed |
When does hail hit Pennington County?
Across 17 years of records, July produced the most reports (502), followed by the months either side of it. Monthly totals:
| Month | Reports | Share |
|---|---|---|
| January | 0 | 0.0% |
| February | 0 | 0.0% |
| March | 2 | 0.1% |
| April | 30 | 2.2% |
| May | 117 | 8.4% |
| June | 460 | 33.0% |
| July | 502 | 36.1% |
| August | 224 | 16.1% |
| September | 52 | 3.7% |
| October | 5 | 0.4% |
| November | 0 | 0.0% |
| December | 0 | 0.0% |
Neighboring counties
Counties that share a border with Pennington County (U.S. Census county adjacency), where we have storm records:
| County | Storm reports | Largest hail |
|---|---|---|
| Meade County, SD | 831 | 4.5" |
| Custer County, SD | 565 | 4.25" |
| Jackson County, SD | 429 | 4.5" |
| Oglala Lakota County, SD | 399 | 4.25" |
| Lawrence County, SD | 390 | 4.5" |
| Haakon County, SD | 276 | 3" |
See all 66 South Dakota counties →
Common questions about hail in Pennington County
- How often does it hail in Pennington County?
- Hail was reported on 249 separate days between 2010 and 2026, about 14.6 days a year, with July the busiest month for storm reports. 777 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 46103). 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.