South Dakota tornado risk
Minnehaha County has the highest tornado risk in South Dakota, scoring 98.4 out of 100 — rated "Relatively High" by FEMA's National Risk Index. NOAA has recorded 201 tornado events across South Dakota over the past decade.
| # | County | NRI score | Rating |
NOAA events 2016–2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minnehaha County | 98.4 | Relatively High | 6 |
| 2 | Lincoln County | 93.3 | Relatively High | 8 |
| 3 | Yankton County | 86.7 | Relatively Moderate | 0 |
| 4 | Brookings County | 80.3 | Relatively Moderate | 6 |
| 5 | Codington County | 77 | Relatively Moderate | 5 |
| 6 | Davison County | 75.5 | Relatively Moderate | 0 |
| 7 | Lake County | 73 | Relatively Moderate | 2 |
| 8 | Brown County | 70.1 | Relatively Moderate | 6 |
| 9 | Union County | 69.2 | Relatively Moderate | 0 |
| 10 | McCook County | 67.5 | Relatively Moderate | 1 |
| 11 | Hutchinson County | 65.1 | Relatively Moderate | 2 |
| 12 | Beadle County | 64.6 | Relatively Low | 3 |
| 13 | Turner County | 64.3 | Relatively Low | 1 |
| 14 | Moody County | 62.9 | Relatively Low | 0 |
| 15 | Pennington County | 61 | Relatively Low | 4 |
| 16 | Clay County | 60.2 | Relatively Low | 1 |
| 17 | Charles Mix County | 55.3 | Relatively Low | 1 |
| 18 | Roberts County | 50.4 | Relatively Low | 9 |
| 19 | Hanson County | 43.5 | Relatively Low | 0 |
| 20 | Todd County | 41.7 | Relatively Low | 4 |
| 21 | Oglala Lakota County | 40.9 | Relatively Low | 2 |
| 22 | Day County | 40.6 | Relatively Low | 9 |
| 23 | Lawrence County | 37.8 | Relatively Low | 3 |
| 24 | Tripp County | 37.7 | Relatively Low | 4 |
| 25 | Douglas County | 37.1 | Relatively Low | 0 |
| 26 | Brule County | 35.1 | Relatively Low | 0 |
| 27 | Hamlin County | 34.8 | Relatively Low | 5 |
| 28 | Grant County | 34.6 | Relatively Low | 5 |
| 29 | Kingsbury County | 34.4 | Relatively Low | 6 |
| 30 | Spink County | 34 | Relatively Low | 6 |
| 31 | Meade County | 33.6 | Relatively Low | 3 |
| 32 | Bon Homme County | 33.2 | Relatively Low | 3 |
| 33 | Deuel County | 32.4 | Relatively Low | 17 |
| 34 | Aurora County | 32.3 | Relatively Low | 2 |
| 35 | Marshall County | 32.1 | Relatively Low | 4 |
| 36 | Fall River County | 29.6 | Relatively Low | 1 |
| 37 | Gregory County | 29 | Relatively Low | 5 |
| 38 | Walworth County | 27.7 | Relatively Low | 2 |
| 39 | Lyman County | 27.6 | Relatively Low | 3 |
| 40 | Sanborn County | 26.8 | Relatively Low | 1 |
| 41 | Hughes County | 26.7 | Relatively Low | 0 |
| 42 | Miner County | 26.6 | Relatively Low | 2 |
| 43 | Dewey County | 24.4 | Very Low | 0 |
| 44 | McPherson County | 24 | Very Low | 2 |
| 45 | Corson County | 23.6 | Very Low | 2 |
| 46 | Butte County | 23.3 | Very Low | 3 |
| 47 | Edmunds County | 23.1 | Very Low | 3 |
| 48 | Clark County | 22.8 | Very Low | 8 |
| 49 | Custer County | 22.1 | Very Low | 3 |
| 50 | Jerauld County | 21.8 | Very Low | 0 |
| 51 | Faulk County | 21.1 | Very Low | 3 |
| 52 | Buffalo County | 20.2 | Very Low | 0 |
| 53 | Hand County | 20.2 | Very Low | 8 |
| 54 | Mellette County | 19.4 | Very Low | 0 |
| 55 | Jackson County | 18.7 | Very Low | 1 |
| 56 | Bennett County | 18.5 | Very Low | 7 |
| 57 | Potter County | 17.9 | Very Low | 0 |
| 58 | Hyde County | 17.8 | Very Low | 3 |
| 59 | Sully County | 14.6 | Very Low | 1 |
| 60 | Campbell County | 14.3 | Very Low | 4 |
| 61 | Jones County | 11.9 | Very Low | 2 |
| 62 | Perkins County | 11.6 | Very Low | 3 |
| 63 | Ziebach County | 11.1 | Very Low | 0 |
| 64 | Stanley County | 10.9 | Very Low | 1 |
| 65 | Haakon County | 8.2 | Very Low | 1 |
| 66 | Harding County | 8.2 | Very Low | 4 |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0, December 2025. Scores are 0–100 percentile rankings among all US counties. See the methodology page for definitions. Download the full CSV for all counties.
Tornado risk nationally:
Other hazard risks in South Dakota:
Frequently asked questions
What is the highest tornado risk county in South Dakota?
Minnehaha County, SD has the highest tornado risk in South Dakota, with a FEMA National Risk Index score of 98.4 out of 100 (rated "Relatively High").
What causes tornado risk in South Dakota?
Tornado risk concentrates in the central and southern plains ("Tornado Alley") and the Southeast ("Dixie Alley"), where atmospheric conditions favor supercell thunderstorm development. The highest scores often belong to counties with significant mobile home and manufactured housing stock, which carries disproportionate tornado mortality risk.