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Thunder Butte, South Dakota

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1951 and the latest in 1986. It stands in the North Ziebach unorganized territory. It lies in ZIP code area 57623. It stands on Thunder Butte Creek. The Survey maps it on the Thunder Butte quadrangle.

Thunder Butte within Ziebach County

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 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.

Fires near this place

69 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 69 fires within 5 miles of Thunder Butte between 1992 and 2018, burning about 777 acres in total. 27 started naturally. 1 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
Natural27
Debris and open burning15
Missing data/not specified/undetermined8
Equipment and vehicle use7
Fireworks6
Recreation and ceremony2
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Smoking1
Arson/incendiarism1

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 September 2012Natural4.1 acresCheyenne River AgencyYELLOW TREE
24 September 1993Debris and open burning1.9 acresCheyenne River AgencyTHUNDERBUT
23 September 2001Debris and open burningunder an acreCheyenne River AgencyYOUNG
22 September 2004Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCheyenne River AgencyDOUGYOUNG
1 September 2018Equipment and vehicle use49 acresCheyenne River AgencyTACO
1 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCheyenne River AgencyDUNGEON
9 August 2006Natural14 acresCheyenne River AgencyJOHN B.
8 August 1997Debris and open burning2.9 acresCheyenne River AgencyTHUNDERBUT

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Ziebach County

Storms near this place

19 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Thunder Butte in 19 storm reports between 2002 and 2025: 10 thunderstorm wind, 9 hail. 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 2025Thunderstorm WindThunder Butte-SD mesonet recorded wind gust.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindThunder Butte-Chaser reported a tree uprooted.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindThunder Butte-Snapped the trunk of a 30 ft tall Elm Tree that was about a foot in diameter.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindThunder Butte-Chaser reported a snapped the trunk of a 30 ft tall Elm Tree that was about a foot in diameter.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindThunder Butte-The combination of wind and hail broke windows in a home.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindThunder Butte-The spotter estimated wind gusts at 60 mph.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindThunder Butte-Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph.
August 2013Thunderstorm WindThunder Butte-Wind gusts were estimated near 70 mph.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindThunder Butte-Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph. 2.25 inches of rain fell in an hour and a half ending at 7 p.m. MST.
May 2022HailThunder Butte-no account filed
June 2015HailThunder Butte-no account filed
June 2012HailThunder Butte-no account filed
June 2011HailThunder Butte-no account filed
June 2011HailThunder Butte-no account filed
July 2007HailThunder Butte-no account filed
July 2003HailThunder Butte-no account filed
July 2003HailThunder Butte-no account filed
July 2003HailThunder Butte-no account filed
August 2002Thunderstorm WindThunder Butte-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Ziebach 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
Iron Lightning9.6 miles7
Dupree12.0 miles7
Red Elm12.4 miles7
Allison Crossing13.1 miles7
Glad Valley14.1 miles8
Chase18.9 miles6
Red Scaffold32.1 miles6
Cherry Creek42.9 miles8

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 Q141614459The 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 1258543. 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.