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Aurora, South Dakota

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Aurora town. It lies in ZIP code area 57002. The Survey maps it on the Aurora quadrangle. 1,047 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,624 feet above sea level.

Aurora within Brookings County

Population over time

2 figures

Aurora grew from 532 to 1,047 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2010532
20201,047+515 (+97%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 8 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

59 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 59 fires within 5 miles of Aurora between 1999 and 2020, burning about 262 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined29
Debris and open burning13
Equipment and vehicle use6
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Arson/incendiarism2
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Smoking2
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Fireworks1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
8 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire Suppressionnot named
7 September 2003Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire Suppressionnot named
20 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire Suppressionnot named
26 August 2019Smoking1.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionJENSEN FIRE
21 August 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionHWY 14 POWER POLE
15 August 2008Equipment and vehicle use4.5 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire Suppressionnot named
1 August 2013Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreBrookings CountyWOGAN CENTER
4 July 2016Arson/incendiarismunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionGRAVEL PIT

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Brookings County

Mines and quarries near this place

7 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Aurora: 4 past producers, 3 producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Sand & Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Sand & Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Sand & Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Sand & Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Sand & Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Sand & Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Brookings County

Storms near this place

11 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Aurora in 11 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 7 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 2 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 1996Tornado (F1)Aurora$200,000no account filed
June 1995Thunderstorm WindAurora$8,000Thunderstorm winds blew down a few trees, one of which damaged the corner of a garage and tore a hole in its roof. Broken tree limbs caused some power outages in the area.
August 2021Thunderstorm WindAurora$3,000Thunderstorm wind gusts destroyed a small metal shed. Property damage costs are a rough estimate.
August 2025Thunderstorm WindAurora-Thunderstorm wind gusts blew numerous items off a deck.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindAurora-Several rail cars were tipped over, with numerous trees uprooted, some onto homes. Fences throughout town were blown down. A semi-truck was rolled on Highway 14 just north of town.
May 2019Thunderstorm WindAurora-Shingle and soffit damage due to strong thunderstorm winds.
August 2016Thunderstorm WindAurora-Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including up to 6 inch diameter branches blown down.
July 2010Thunderstorm WindAurora-Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including 10 inch diameter limbs blown down. The winds were accompanied by heavy rain.
July 2004HailAurora-Large hail dented vehicles and damaged crops. The amount of damage was not known.
June 1997Tornado (F0)Aurora-A brief tornado observed by a National Weather Service employee and other spotters caused no damage.
July 2004HailAurora-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Brookings County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Bushnell3.8 miles8
Brookings6.3 miles9
Roland Colony6.4 miles8
Sunnyview6.7 miles9
Sheldon Trailor Town7.0 miles9
Medary7.4 miles11
Newdale Colony8.8 miles8
White10.6 miles8

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on AuroraAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1994195The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1253728. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.