Oral, South Dakota
16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1896 and the latest in 1993. It stands in the Northeast Fall River unorganized territory. It lies in ZIP code area 57766. It stands on Sand Creek. The Survey maps it on the Buffalo Gap quadrangle. 66 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,969 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 16 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.
- 1896 USGS Oelrichs quadrangle1:125000
- 1900 USGS Oelrichs quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1950 USGS Buffalo Gap quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1955 USGS Hot Springs quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1985 USGS Hot Springs quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1993 USGS Hot Springs quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
25 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 25 fires within 5 miles of Oral between 1998 and 2019, burning about 417 acres in total. 11 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 11 |
| Debris and open burning | 6 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 2002 | Natural | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | WEST DUMP |
| 3 September 2015 | Natural | 98 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | SOUTH BUFFALO GAP CA |
| 12 September 1998 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Rapid City Fire Department | 98-2998 |
| 9 August 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | RIDDLE FIRE |
| 9 August 2011 | Natural | 1.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | SHANGRI LA |
| 2 August 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | JUNCTION |
| 19 August 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 15 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | ELM CREEK |
| 9 July 2003 | Other causes | 2.3 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Oral: 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birdsall Sand & Gravel Co Mine | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Oral Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
40 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Oral in 40 storm reports between 1993 and 2024: 23 hail, 13 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 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 2005 | Tornado (F1) | Oral | $50,000 | A non-supercell tornado quickly developed and moved across a field, where it destroyed 3 177-foot sections of a new center pivot irrigation system and the roof of a game bird barn. The tornado was followed by wind gusts of 70 mph and golf ball to almost softball sized hail. |
| June 2015 | Flood | Oral | $40,000 | Flooding in Oral occurred after runoff backed up at a plugged culvert along Sand Creek. East Oral Road was underwater, with several homes and businesses in Oral and north of East Oral Road inundated. |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oral | $10,000 | Two large center pivot irrigation systems were mangled by thunderstorm winds. The concrete base of one was pulled from the ground. |
| July 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oral | $10,000 | Grain bins and pivot irrigation systems were blown over by the wind. |
| July 2003 | Hail | Oral | $10,000 | Large tree limbs were blown down. Large hail also broke windows and damaged the roof of a house. |
| June 2013 | Hail | Oral | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 2013 | Hail | Oral | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | Oral | $200 | Large hail broke windshield of automobile. |
| June 2022 | Hail | Oral | - | A lot of baseball sized hail fell, with a few stones almost four inches in diameter. |
| May 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oral | - | Multiple trees were blown over by the wind. |
| May 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oral | - | Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph. |
| July 2016 | Heavy Rain | Oral | - | Rainfall of 2.06 inches fell in about 6 hours. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oral | - | Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oral | - | Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph. |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oral | - | Wind gusts were estimated around 60 mph. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oral | - | Wind gusts estimated at 70 mph bent over trees. |
| July 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oral | - | Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph. |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oral | - | 8 inch diameter tree limbs down. |
| July 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oral | - | Several tree limbs were broken off. |
| May 1994 | Hail | Oral | - | Heavy fall of one-half inch hail caused undetermined crop damage. |
| April 2024 | Hail | Oral | - | no account filed |
| July 2023 | Hail | Oral | - | no account filed |
| June 2021 | Hail | Oral | - | no account filed |
| August 2021 | Hail | Oral | - | no account filed |
| June 2018 | Hail | Oral | - | no account filed |
| June 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oral | - | no account filed |
| July 2016 | Hail | Oral | - | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Hail | Oral | - | no account filed |
| May 2010 | Hail | Oral | - | no account filed |
| July 2010 | Hail | Oral | - | no account filed |
| May 2009 | Hail | Oral | - | no account filed |
| July 2009 | Hail | Oral | - | no account filed |
| May 2005 | Flash Flood | Oral | - | no account filed |
| August 2004 | Hail | Oral | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oral | - | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Hail | Oral | - | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Hail | Oral | - | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Hail | Oral | - | no account filed |
| June 1994 | Hail | Oral | - | no account filed |
| August 1993 | Hail | Oral | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smithwick | 7.6 miles | 14 | |
| Angostura | 9.2 miles | 16 | |
| Hot Springs | 11.0 miles | 19 | |
| Cascade Springs | 15.7 miles | 15 | |
| Oelrichs | 15.7 miles | 14 | |
| Erskine | 15.8 miles | 14 | |
| Heppner | 18.5 miles | 14 | |
| Rocky Ford | 19.3 miles | 15 |
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 Oral | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7099350 | 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 1265313. 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.





