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.
Population over time
2 figuresAurora 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 532 | |
| 2020 | 1,047 | +515 (+97%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 8 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1953 USGS Watertown quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Watertown quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1964 USGS Aurora quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Brookings quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
59 since 1999Regional 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/undetermined | 29 |
| Debris and open burning | 13 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 6 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 7 September 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 20 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 26 August 2019 | Smoking | 1.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | JENSEN FIRE |
| 21 August 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | HWY 14 POWER POLE |
| 15 August 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4.5 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 1 August 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Brookings County | WOGAN CENTER |
| 4 July 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | GRAVEL PIT |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
7 within 5 milesRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Sand & Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Sand & Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Sand & Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Sand & Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Sand & Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Sand & Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
11 since 1995Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 1996 | Tornado (F1) | Aurora | $200,000 | no account filed |
| June 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Aurora | $8,000 | Thunderstorm 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 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Aurora | $3,000 | Thunderstorm wind gusts destroyed a small metal shed. Property damage costs are a rough estimate. |
| August 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Aurora | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts blew numerous items off a deck. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Aurora | - | 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 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Aurora | - | Shingle and soffit damage due to strong thunderstorm winds. |
| August 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Aurora | - | Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including up to 6 inch diameter branches blown down. |
| July 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Aurora | - | Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including 10 inch diameter limbs blown down. The winds were accompanied by heavy rain. |
| July 2004 | Hail | Aurora | - | Large hail dented vehicles and damaged crops. The amount of damage was not known. |
| June 1997 | Tornado (F0) | Aurora | - | A brief tornado observed by a National Weather Service employee and other spotters caused no damage. |
| July 2004 | Hail | Aurora | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bushnell | 3.8 miles | 8 | |
| Brookings | 6.3 miles | 9 | |
| Roland Colony | 6.4 miles | 8 | |
| Sunnyview | 6.7 miles | 9 | |
| Sheldon Trailor Town | 7.0 miles | 9 | |
| Medary | 7.4 miles | 11 | |
| Newdale Colony | 8.8 miles | 8 | |
| White | 10.6 miles | 8 |
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 Aurora | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1994195 | The 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.



