Betts, South Dakota
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1899 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Beulah Township. It lies in ZIP code area 57301. The Survey maps it on the Betts quadrangle.
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 11 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.
- 1899 USGS Mitchell quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1955 USGS Mitchell quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1959 USGS Mitchell quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1980 USGS Betts quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Mitchell quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1990 USGS Mitchell quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
40 since 1999Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 40 fires within 5 miles of Betts between 1999 and 2015, burning about 617 acres in total. None started naturally. None was 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 | 17 |
| Debris and open burning | 14 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 4 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
| Other causes | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 19 September 2001 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | DALE SMITH FIRE |
| 3 August 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Mitchell Fire Department | JUST WASHED THE SURBURBAN FIRE |
| 13 August 2001 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | HOFFE |
| 6 July 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 4 July 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 31 July 2007 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 2.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 28 July 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Betts: 1 unknown. None of them still produces. 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 | Unknown |
Storms near this place
18 since 2009Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Betts in 18 storm reports between 2009 and 2025: 13 hail, 4 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2011 | Flash Flood | Betts | $30,000 | Heavy rainfall produced flash flooding which flooded fields, a few roads, and washed out a bridge. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Betts | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts were measured by a personal weather station. |
| August 2023 | Hail | Betts | - | Hail varied from pea to quarter size, with most at quarter size. |
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Betts | - | Winds to 65 mph were measured by a handheld anemometer. Crop damage is an estimate from insured losses. Information provided by the United States Department of Agriculture. |
| August 2021 | Hail | Betts | - | Crop damage is an estimate from insured losses. Information provided by the United States Department of Agriculture. |
| July 2017 | Hail | Betts | - | Report from social media. |
| June 2015 | Hail | Betts | - | Large hail was accompanied by damaging winds. |
| June 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Betts | - | Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including limbs blown down. The winds were accompanied by quarter size hail. |
| May 2012 | Hail | Betts | - | Large hail caused an unknown amount of damage to vehicles and siding. |
| July 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Betts | - | Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several branches blown down. The damaging winds were accompanied by large hail, with an unknown amount of crop damage caused by the winds and hail. |
| July 2010 | Hail | Betts | - | Large hail, combined with damaging winds, caused an unknown amount of crop damage. |
| June 2009 | Hail | Betts | - | A trained spotter reported nickel size hail, and observed a wall cloud. |
| August 2009 | Hail | Betts | - | Large hail broke windows, damaged vehicles, roofs and siding, and caused crop damage. The amount of property and crop damage was not known. |
| May 2021 | Hail | Betts | - | no account filed |
| June 2017 | Hail | Betts | - | no account filed |
| June 2017 | Hail | Betts | - | no account filed |
| April 2015 | Hail | Betts | - | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Hail | Betts | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| River Bluff Addition | 4.7 miles | 12 | |
| Mount Vernon | 6.1 miles | 11 | |
| Mitchell | 6.2 miles | 12 | |
| Loomis | 6.4 miles | 12 | |
| Metzgerville | 12.9 miles | 11 | |
| Ethan | 13.8 miles | 11 |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1261094. 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.





