Mellette, South Dakota
10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1895 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Mellette City. It lies in ZIP code area 57461. The Survey maps it on the Mellette quadrangle. 199 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,296 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresMellette fell from 210 to 199 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 | 210 | |
| 2020 | 199 | -11 (-5%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 10 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.
- 1895 USGS Aberdeen quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1954 USGS Aberdeen quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Mellette quadrangle1:24000
- 1956 USGS Aberdeen quadrangle1:250000
- 1985 USGS Aberdeen quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
28 since 1999Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 28 fires within 5 miles of Mellette between 1999 and 2018, burning about 1,296 acres in total. 2 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 burning | 12 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 4 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 August 2001 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Mellette Volunteer Fire Department | DELOY |
| 19 July 2005 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 14 July 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 14 July 2003 | Natural | 1.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 6 June 2018 | Natural | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | THOMPSON, NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE |
| 18 June 2007 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 19 May 1999 | Smoking | under an acre | Black Hawk Volunteer Fire Department | I 90# 49 |
| 8 April 2005 | Debris and open burning | 800 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | LITTLE RIVER BURN |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
38 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Mellette in 38 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 21 thunderstorm wind, 13 hail, 4 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 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mellette | - | The South Dakota Department of Transportation weather station near Mellette recorded a wind gust of 63 mph. |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mellette | - | Sixty mph winds were estimated. |
| May 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mellette | - | The birdnest at the high school football field was blown down along with numerous branches downed in town. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mellette | - | Many large tree limbs were downed in Mellette. |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mellette | - | Winds over 100 mph downed many trees, broke off or bent many power poles, caused some structural damage, and broke off several signs. |
| July 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mellette | - | Some tree branches were brought down by winds over 70 mph. |
| July 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mellette | - | Winds gusting to 90 mph tore shingles off some roofs, downed some power poles, and some large trees. Also, some grain bins were destroyed, the crows nest at the sports complex was blown down, and at the airport a hanger door was blown off with some substantial hanger damage. |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| July 2025 | Hail | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| August 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| April 2022 | Hail | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| July 2022 | Hail | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| July 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| August 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| May 2015 | Hail | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| July 2015 | Hail | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| July 2009 | Flood | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| June 2009 | Flood | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| August 2009 | Flood | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| September 2009 | Flood | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| May 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Hail | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Hail | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Hail | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Hail | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Hail | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Hail | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mellette | - | no account filed |
| July 1995 | Hail | Mellette | - | 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.
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 Mellette | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1865642 | 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 1256431. 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.




