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Murdo, South Dakota

6 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Murdo City. It lies in ZIP code area 57559. The Survey maps it on the Murdo quadrangle. 475 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,313 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Murdo within Jones County

On record in Murdo

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 4 records

Population over time

2 figures

Murdo fell from 488 to 475 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
2010488
2020475-13 (-3%)

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

24 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 24 fires within 5 miles of Murdo between 1998 and 2020, burning about 36 acres in total. 4 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/undetermined10
Equipment and vehicle use4
Natural4
Fireworks3
Arson/incendiarism2
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
6 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionRAHN BURN
13 September 1998Natural10 acresOral Volunteer Fire DepartmentEMICK FIRE
3 August 2006Natural5.5 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire Suppressionnot named
2 August 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionGOTHIER
18 August 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionBALE 1
10 August 2003Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire Suppressionnot named
5 July 2006Fireworksunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire Suppressionnot named
30 July 1999Natural1.0 acresPiedmont Volunteer Fire DepartmentTILFORD

Every fire recorded in Jones County

Storms near this place

60 of 61 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Murdo in 61 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 31 hail, 28 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 1 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 1994HailMurdo$5,000no account filed
July 2025HailMurdo-Nickel-sized hail was reported in Murdo.
April 2024FloodMurdo-The Jones County Emergency Manager reported flooding in Murdo. Additional flooding was noted outside of town on 273rd ave, with water over the road and a partially washed out culvert.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindMurdo-A grain bin was leveled by the winds.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindMurdo-Winds were estimated at 60 mph.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindMurdo-A semi was blown over by estimated seventy mph winds.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindMurdo-A cornfield was completely destroyed by estimated seventy-five mph winds.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindMurdo-Estimated sixty mph winds downed a large cedar tree in Murdo.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindMurdo-A semi was blown off Interstate-90 and into the median.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindMurdo-Seventy mph winds were estimated.
June 2015Thunderstorm WindMurdo-Ninety mph winds flipped over a semi-trailer and small cargo trailer. The winds also downed power lines and damaged numerous billboards and road signs.
June 2015Thunderstorm WindMurdo-Estimated eighty mph winds resulted in a couple flipped trailers.
June 2015Thunderstorm WindMurdo-Eighty mph winds broke several trees off at the base with lots of tree branches downed.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindMurdo-Seventy mph winds downed several power lines in Murdo.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindMurdo-Seventy mph winds flattened a two stall garage, bent a flag pole over, and downed many large tree limbs.
June 2007Thunderstorm WindMurdo-Seventy mph winds damaged some street lights in Murdo.
May 2006Thunderstorm WindMurdo-High winds of over 60 mph took the roof off and a wall down on a cattle barn.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindMurdo-High winds destroyed several grain bins and tipped over an auger.
May 2001HailMurdo-Hail up to the size of quarters completely covered the ground along with breaking some windows.
July 2001Thunderstorm WindMurdo-High winds blew over some power poles and also blew the roof off a grain bin.
June 1999Tornado (F0)Murdo-A tornado touched down west of Murdo and went through an uninhabited farmstead tipping over a shed, moving some machinery around, tearing up a few trees, and scattering some hay bales around. On another farm, the tornado tore apart an open fronted shed, tipped over a wooden granary into a travel trailer, turned a combine ninety degrees, tore up some calving sheds, and snapped the tops of many cottonwood trees. The snapped tree tops were laying in all different angles. Some power poles and lines were brought down, leaving many in the dark for several hours. The tornado moved northeast and flipped over a semi trailer parked at a rest area on Interstate-90 and continued north damaging some more power lines and small structures before dissipating. Path length and width were estimated.
August 2024HailMurdo-no account filed
July 2020HailMurdo-no account filed
July 2020Thunderstorm WindMurdo-no account filed
July 2020Thunderstorm WindMurdo-no account filed
June 2020HailMurdo-no account filed
June 2016Thunderstorm WindMurdo-no account filed
August 2016Thunderstorm WindMurdo-no account filed
June 2015Thunderstorm WindMurdo-no account filed
June 2013HailMurdo-no account filed
June 2013HailMurdo-no account filed
June 2013HailMurdo-no account filed
June 2013Thunderstorm WindMurdo-no account filed
July 2013HailMurdo-no account filed
May 2012HailMurdo-no account filed
July 2011HailMurdo-no account filed
October 2011HailMurdo-no account filed
August 2011HailMurdo-no account filed
May 2006HailMurdo-no account filed
August 2006HailMurdo-no account filed
June 2005Thunderstorm WindMurdo-no account filed
June 2005HailMurdo-no account filed
May 2005HailMurdo-no account filed
July 2005HailMurdo-no account filed
July 2003HailMurdo-no account filed
August 2003HailMurdo-no account filed
June 2001HailMurdo-no account filed
June 2001HailMurdo-no account filed
May 2001HailMurdo-no account filed
June 2001Thunderstorm WindMurdo-no account filed
March 2000HailMurdo-no account filed
July 2000HailMurdo-no account filed
July 2000Thunderstorm WindMurdo-no account filed
July 2000HailMurdo-no account filed
July 2000Thunderstorm WindMurdo-no account filed
June 1999Thunderstorm WindMurdo-no account filed
August 1998HailMurdo-no account filed
May 1998HailMurdo-no account filed
June 1997HailMurdo-no account filed
April 1996Thunderstorm WindMurdo-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Jones 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
Okaton9.5 miles6
Draper9.5 miles6
Westover10.0 miles8
Van Metre19.2 miles8
Capa20.7 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 MurdoAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2725754The 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 1256622. 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.