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Stanley County, SD hail & severe wind history
208 storm reports on file for Stanley County between 2010-04-13 and 2026-06-09 — 77 hail and 131 severe thunderstorm wind. That averages 12.2 reports a year, and Jun is the busiest month.
At a glance
- Most recent hail report: Jun 9, 2026 — 0.88" (nickel), 3.95 mi E of Hayes Airstrip. Last quarter-size (1") or larger: Jun 9, 2026, 1".
- Hail was reported on 48 days since 2010 — about 2.8 hail days a year.
- Largest hail on record: 2.75" (baseball) on Jul 18, 2023.
- Stanley County has more hail reports than 48% of the 66 South Dakota counties we cover.
Search every Stanley 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 Stanley County storm reports…
Worst storm days in Stanley County
| Date | Reports that day | Largest hail | Peak gust |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-07-13 | 9 | — | 109 mph |
| 2020-08-27 | 9 | — | 104 mph |
| 2012-06-09 | 7 | 2.5" (tennis ball) | 81 mph |
| 2018-06-29 | 7 | 2" (hen egg) | 90 mph |
| 2010-07-21 | 6 | — | 81 mph |
| 2020-08-26 | 5 | 2.75" (baseball) | 81 mph |
| 2015-06-22 | 5 | — | 122 mph |
| 2023-07-26 | 4 | 2.5" (tennis ball) | 58 mph |
| 2010-05-24 | 4 | 1.75" (golf ball) | 64 mph |
| 2016-05-25 | 4 | 1" (quarter) | 60 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-07-20 | 2.5" tennis ball | 4.59 mi SSW of Hayes | Tennis-ball size hail was reported five miles south-southwest of Hayes. |
| 2023-07-26 | 2.5" tennis ball | 9.91 mi SSE of Lacy | Golf ball to tennis ball size hail broke multiple windows and caused significant damage to gardens. |
| 2023-07-18 | 2.75" baseball | 1.47 mi NNW of Ft Pierre | No narrative filed |
| 2020-08-26 | 2.75" baseball | 5.65 mi WSW of Sansarc | Baseball size hail broke six windows on the north and west sides of the home. |
| 2018-06-29 | 2" hen egg | 8.89 mi ENE of Hayes Hamilton Arpt | A severe thunderstorm from western South Dakota tracked across northern Stanley county and into Sully county bringing large hail up to 2 inches and winds up to ninety mph destroying thousands of acres of crops and pastureland. The hail and severe winds also caused some property damage along the path of the storm. |
| 2018-06-29 | 2" hen egg | 1.7 mi NE of Orton | No narrative filed |
| 2015-09-07 | 2" hen egg | .85 mi NW of Ft Pierre | No narrative filed |
| 2015-07-04 | 2.5" tennis ball | 5.22 mi NNE of Sansarc | No narrative filed |
When does hail hit Stanley County?
Across 17 years of records, June produced the most reports (68), followed by the months either side of it. Monthly totals:
| Month | Reports | Share |
|---|---|---|
| January | 0 | 0.0% |
| February | 0 | 0.0% |
| March | 0 | 0.0% |
| April | 4 | 1.9% |
| May | 23 | 11.1% |
| June | 68 | 32.7% |
| July | 56 | 26.9% |
| August | 48 | 23.1% |
| September | 7 | 3.4% |
| October | 2 | 1.0% |
| November | 0 | 0.0% |
| December | 0 | 0.0% |
Neighboring counties
Counties that share a border with Stanley County (U.S. Census county adjacency), where we have storm records:
| County | Storm reports | Largest hail |
|---|---|---|
| Lyman County, SD | 334 | 8" |
| Haakon County, SD | 276 | 3" |
| Dewey County, SD | 242 | 4" |
| Ziebach County, SD | 229 | 2.75" |
| Hughes County, SD | 205 | 4.5" |
| Jones County, SD | 166 | 2.5" |
| Sully County, SD | 83 | 2.75" |
See all 66 South Dakota counties →
Common questions about hail in Stanley County
- How often does it hail in Stanley County?
- Hail was reported on 48 separate days between 2010 and 2026, about 2.8 days a year, with June the busiest month for storm reports. 70 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 46117). 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.