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Lake City, South Dakota

6 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1979. It stands in Lake Township. It lies in ZIP code area 57247. The Survey maps it on the Lake City quadrangle. 45 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,860 feet above sea level.

Lake City within Marshall County

Population over time

2 figures

Lake City fell from 51 to 45 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
201051
202045-6 (-12%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 6 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

5 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of Lake City between 1992 and 2016, burning about 712 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
Debris and open burning4
Misuse of fire by a minor1

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
30 April 1992Debris and open burning400 acresSisseton Agencynot named
22 April 2014Debris and open burning100 acresSisseton AgencyBUFFALO LAKE
22 April 1997Misuse of fire by a minor1.0 acresSisseton AgencyREDIRON1
19 April 2008Debris and open burning208 acresSisseton AgencySOUTH RED IRON
28 March 2016Debris and open burning3.0 acresSisseton AgencyRED IRON

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Marshall County

Storms near this place

60 of 70 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lake City in 70 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 37 thunderstorm wind, 28 hail, 3 tornado, 1 funnel cloud. 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
June 2025Flash FloodLake City-Marshall county emergency management reports at least 8 cases of water over the roadways across southern Marshall county.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindLake City-Emergency management reported crop damage due to thunderstorm winds.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindLake City-A resident estimated 70 mph thunderstorm wind gusts at their home.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindLake City-A weather station from the South Dakota Department of Transportation measured a wind gust of 60 mph at Lake City.
August 2023Thunderstorm WindLake City-A member of the public was contacted and they estimated the wind speed at 65 mph.
August 2023Thunderstorm WindLake City-The individual reported an estimated peak thunderstorm wind speed of 60 mph.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindLake City-A trained spotter reported quarter size hail.
July 2021Thunderstorm WindLake City-Several large branches were downed at Roy Lake by estimated 60 mph winds.
August 2020Tornado (EF0)Lake City-A tornado touched down briefly on Roy Lake.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindLake City-Sixty mph winds were estimated.
July 2019HailLake City-Quarter size hail broke through the skylight of a camper.
August 2019Tornado (EF0)Lake City-A tornado developed over Roy Lake and came onshore on the southeast side of the lake. The tornado flipped over a pontoon, broke several tree branches, and split a couple trees. It then caused minor damage to an outbuilding before producing extensive tree damage on the south side of a golf course. One piece of lawn furniture was found in a tree over 150 yards away from the original location. Large tree branches were also tossed over 60 yards across fairways on the golf course. In addition to the tornado damage, straight line winds tipped over a camper and caused tree damage in other locations in and around the golf course.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindLake City-Sixty mph winds were estimated.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindLake City-A large tree was downed by seventy mph winds.
July 2010Thunderstorm WindLake City-Several trees and many large branches were downed by the high winds.
July 2010Thunderstorm WindLake City-Sixty mph winds blew a small trailer over which damaged some siding and fencing.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindLake City-A medium sized tree was snapped off along with a metal roof blown off of a building.
August 2005Thunderstorm WindLake City-Several trees were downed at Roy Lake State Park.
July 2002Thunderstorm WindLake City-Winds of 90 mph or higher uprooted many trees from Roy Lake to Clear Lake south of Lake City and also swept away and damaged many docks, boat lifts, and boats.
July 2001Thunderstorm WindLake City-High winds brought down a large oak tree at Roy Lake along with many tree branches.
June 1999Thunderstorm WindLake City-At a farm near Clear Lake, winds gusting to 70 mph blew in some windows on the house, damaged the barn, and blew down a big cottonwood tree.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindLake City-no account filed
August 2025Thunderstorm WindLake City-no account filed
September 2025Thunderstorm WindLake City-no account filed
July 2024Thunderstorm WindLake City-no account filed
July 2024Thunderstorm WindLake City-no account filed
May 2022Thunderstorm WindLake City-no account filed
May 2022Thunderstorm WindLake City-no account filed
July 2021Thunderstorm WindLake City-no account filed
July 2021Thunderstorm WindLake City-no account filed
October 2021Thunderstorm WindLake City-no account filed
July 2020Thunderstorm WindLake City-no account filed
July 2020Thunderstorm WindLake City-no account filed
June 2020Thunderstorm WindLake City-no account filed
July 2015HailLake City-no account filed
July 2015HailLake City-no account filed
July 2015HailLake City-no account filed
July 2015HailLake City-no account filed
July 2015HailLake City-no account filed
July 2015HailLake City-no account filed
July 2015HailLake City-no account filed
July 2015HailLake City-no account filed
July 2015HailLake City-no account filed
July 2015HailLake City-no account filed
July 2015HailLake City-no account filed
July 2015HailLake City-no account filed
July 2015HailLake City-no account filed
July 2015HailLake City-no account filed
July 2015HailLake City-no account filed
July 2015HailLake City-no account filed
July 2015HailLake City-no account filed
July 2015HailLake City-no account filed
June 2011HailLake City-no account filed
June 2011HailLake City-no account filed
June 2011HailLake City-no account filed
July 2011Funnel CloudLake City-no account filed
June 2008HailLake City-no account filed
June 2008Thunderstorm WindLake City-no account filed
July 2008Thunderstorm WindLake City-no account filed
June 2007HailLake City-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Marshall 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
Clear Lake3.7 miles6
Eden7.5 miles6
Hillhead7.7 miles6
Veblen11.6 miles6
Marlow13.6 miles7
Britton18.4 miles7
Kidder19.2 miles7
Spain19.7 miles6

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 Lake CityAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2746946The 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 1256013. 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.

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.