Slim Butte, South Dakota

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the West Oglala Lakota unorganized territory. It lies in ZIP code area 57770. It stands on Janis Creek. The Survey maps it on the Slim Butte quadrangle.

Slim Butte within Oglala Lakota County

Topographic sheets covering this place

3 surveys from 8 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.

1955 USGS Hot Springs quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
1967 USGS Slim Butte quadrangle1:24000
1985 USGS Pine Ridge quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings

Fires near this place

195 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 195 fires within 5 miles of Slim Butte between 1992 and 2020, burning about 7,730 acres in total. 24 started naturally. 7 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
Debris and open burning	69
Misuse of fire by a minor	31
Natural	24
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	18
Equipment and vehicle use	16
Fireworks	10
Smoking	9
Other causes	8
Arson/incendiarism	7
Recreation and ceremony	2
Power generation/transmission/distribution	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 2003	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Pine Ridge Agency	CHOPPER
6 September 2002	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Pine Ridge Agency	COOKS
5 September 2010	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	5.0 acres	Pine Ridge Agency	WEASEL BEAR
5 September 1995	Natural	40 acres	Pine Ridge Agency	LIGHTNING
3 September 2004	Natural	306 acres	Pine Ridge Agency	NORTHSOUTH
3 September 1995	Debris and open burning	6.0 acres	Pine Ridge Agency	OLD FIELD
3 September 1992	Misuse of fire by a minor	1.5 acres	Pine Ridge Agency	SLIMBUTTE
29 September 2004	Power generation/transmission/distribution	under an acre	Pine Ridge Agency	BROKENFUSE

Every fire recorded in Oglala Lakota County

Storms near this place

25 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Slim Butte in 25 storm reports between 1999 and 2025: 10 hail, 8 thunderstorm wind, 4 flood, 3 tornado. The reports record 1 death and 54 injuries. 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 1999	Tornado (F2)	Slim Butte	1 killed, 54 hurt, $3,200,000	This was the first of two tornadoes that swept through the town of Oglala. Spotters and law enforcement reported that the tornado went up and down several times. It remained on the ground just prior to hitting Oglala and then dissipated as it moved to the northeast. There was one fatality with 54 people receiving medical care for injuries. A church and three of its surrounding buildings were destroyed, 22 mobile homes destroyed, 30 to 50 buildings damaged and a lot of hail damage to roofs and vehicles.
March 2019	Flood	Slim Butte	$500,000	Moderate to major flooding occurred along the White River in Oglala Lakota County. Runoff from melting snow into the White River caused river ice to break up and jam. Additional flooding also occurred along White Clay Creek upstream and downstream from Oglala Dam due to the snowmelt.
July 2013	Hail	Slim Butte	$5,000	no account filed
July 2009	Hail	Slim Butte	$1,000	Golfball sized hail damaged an automobile.
June 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Slim Butte	-	Public reported estimated wind gust report.
August 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Slim Butte	-	The spotter estimated wind gusts at 60 mph.
August 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Slim Butte	-	The strong winds ripped the roof off two sheds.
June 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Slim Butte	-	Pea sized hail accompanied the storm.
May 2019	Flood	Slim Butte	-	Runoff from heavy rain over northwestern Nebraska caused minor to moderate flooding of the White River from the Nebraska state line to the Badlands.
June 2019	Flood	Slim Butte	-	Runoff from heavy rain over northwestern Nebraska caused minor flooding of the White River from the Nebraska-South Dakota state line to the Badlands. Both river gauges at the state line and near Oglala crested a little over flood stage in late May.
June 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Slim Butte	-	Wind gusts were estimated at 60 to 65 mph.
September 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Slim Butte	-	Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph.
June 2015	Flood	Slim Butte	-	Minor flooding occurred along the White River between the South Dakota-Nebraska state line and US Highway 18.
July 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Slim Butte	-	Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph.
June 2001	Tornado (F0)	Slim Butte	-	Brief tornado reported by public.
June 1999	Tornado (F0)	Slim Butte	-	Tornado reported by State Trooper.
August 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Slim Butte	-	no account filed
August 2023	Hail	Slim Butte	-	no account filed
June 2022	Hail	Slim Butte	-	no account filed
August 2017	Hail	Slim Butte	-	no account filed
June 2015	Hail	Slim Butte	-	no account filed
June 2014	Hail	Slim Butte	-	no account filed
July 2013	Hail	Slim Butte	-	no account filed
May 2009	Hail	Slim Butte	-	no account filed
June 1999	Hail	Slim Butte	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Oglala Lakota 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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Oglala	8.9 miles	8
Pine Ridge	14.4 miles	9
Manderson	21.6 miles	8
Wounded Knee	24.5 miles	8
Denby	25.6 miles	8
Porcupine	28.3 miles	8
Evergreen	29.3 miles	8
Sharps Corner	31.1 miles	9

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.

Wikidata item Q141615820

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 1261067. 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.