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Howard, South Dakota

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1899 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Howard Township. It lies in ZIP code area 57349. The Survey maps it on the Howard quadrangle. 848 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,575 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Howard within Miner County

On record in Howard

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 3 records

Population over time

2 figures

Howard fell from 858 to 848 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
2010858
2020848-10 (-1%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 11 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

15 since 2007

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 15 fires within 5 miles of Howard between 2007 and 2017, burning about 75 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/undetermined12
Debris and open burning3

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
11 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionKUHLE FIELD
5 July 2017Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionCALLIES
10 July 2013Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMinnehaha CountyBELLVIEW
25 June 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionHOWARD
22 April 2017Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionCAVIGILLI
17 April 2014Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionBUNKER RX
15 April 2008Debris and open burning33 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire Suppressionnot named
13 April 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionGOLF COURSE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Miner County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Howard: 2 producers. All of them 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
Nelses PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Van-Scharrel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Miner County

Storms near this place

45 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Howard in 45 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 21 thunderstorm wind, 18 hail, 3 tornado, 2 lightning. The reports record 1 injury. 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 2004Thunderstorm WindHoward1 hurtThunderstorm winds caused tree damage and broke windows. One person received minor cuts from flying glass.
May 1996Thunderstorm WindHoward$60,000no account filed
July 2010Flash FloodHoward$50,000Heavy rainfall of 2 to 6 inches caused widespread flooding of roads and basements, especially in an area from the town of Howard to 4 miles north of Howard. Several county roads were washed out and some bridges were damaged. A golf course on the east side of Howard was flooded.
June 1994HailHoward$50,000The damage path of the hail was estimated to be about 12 miles long and three to five miles wide. The hail caused widespread crop damage, many windows were broken, and some sheds and vehicles were damaged.
May 1996Tornado (F0)Howard$50,000no account filed
September 2005HailHoward$30,000Large hail broke windows in buildings and vehicles, dented vehicles, and damaged siding. The hail caused minor damage to corn crops and more extensive damage to soybean crops in the area. The amount of crop damage was not known.
May 2007Tornado (EF2)Howard$20,000A tornado damaged outbuildings and destroyed a hunting lodge.
May 2004LightningHoward$20,000Lightning struck a house and started a fire. The fire was contained mostly in the roof and attic, but the house was filled with smoke.
September 1995HailHoward$20,000Hail broke some windows on vehicles and caused damage to soybean and corn crops over a small area along the eastern edge of the county.
June 1998Thunderstorm WindHoward$10,000no account filed
June 1995Thunderstorm WindHoward$1,000Thunderstorm winds blew a shed off of its foundation.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindHoward-Thunderstorm wind gusts were measured by a Road Weather Information System sensor near Howard.
August 2025Thunderstorm WindHoward-Thunderstorm wind gusts were measured by a Road Weather Information System sensor 1 mile west of Howard.
May 2022HailHoward-Crop damage is an estimate from insured losses. Information provided by the United States Department of Agriculture.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindHoward-Thunderstorm wind gusts damaged several buildings in Howard, with numerous trees and powerlines down. Crop damage is an estimate from insured losses. Information provided by the United States Department of Agriculture.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindHoward-An extended period of thunderstorm wind gusts of 58 mph or greater was measured by South Dakota Road Weather Information System site SD597 1 mile west of Howard. A peak wind gust of 99 mph occurred at 1413CST.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindHoward-Thunderstorm winds caused significant roof damage to an agricultural building and knocked over nearby steel tanks.
August 2022Thunderstorm WindHoward-A thunderstorm wind gust of 70 mph was measured by South Dakota Road Weather Information System site SD597 1 mile west of Howard.
September 2021Thunderstorm WindHoward-Thunderstorm wind gusts measured by South Dakota RWIS site SD597 1 mile west of Howard.
July 2019Thunderstorm WindHoward-Several tree limbs and branches down.
August 2017Thunderstorm WindHoward-Tree limbs downed across the entire town.
August 2016HailHoward-Large hail caused an unknown amount of damage to vehicles.
September 2010Thunderstorm WindHoward-Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several branches blown down.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindHoward-Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several branches blown down.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindHoward-Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including numerous branches and a few trees blown down.
August 2004Thunderstorm WindHoward-Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several large trees blown down. The winds also damaged a dugout at a baseball diamond, blew down power lines, and blew down the door to a farm shop.
June 2001Thunderstorm WindHoward-Thunderstorm winds caused widespread tree damage. mostly branches down.
June 2001Thunderstorm WindHoward-Thunderstorm winds blew an 8 by 10 foot metal shed into nearby trees.
August 2025HailHoward-no account filed
May 2012HailHoward-no account filed
September 2010HailHoward-no account filed
May 2007HailHoward-no account filed
May 2007HailHoward-no account filed
July 2004HailHoward-no account filed
August 2004Thunderstorm WindHoward-no account filed
July 2003HailHoward-no account filed
June 2002HailHoward-no account filed
June 2002HailHoward-no account filed
August 2002Thunderstorm WindHoward-no account filed
August 2002HailHoward-no account filed
June 2001HailHoward-no account filed
August 2000HailHoward-no account filed
June 1999HailHoward-no account filed
June 1998Tornado (F0)Howard-no account filed
October 1998LightningHoward-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Miner 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
Vilas3.7 miles11
Shannon Colony5.8 miles6
Argonne7.3 miles12
Roswell9.0 miles12
Canova9.0 miles11
Cloverleaf Colony11.9 miles11
Fedora14.0 miles11
Carthage14.9 miles11

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 HowardAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2089472The 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 1265656. 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.