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.
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 8 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.
- 1951 USGS Thunder Butte quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1953 USGS McIntosh quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS McIntosh quadrangle1:250000
- 1986 USGS Timber Lake quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
69 since 1992Regional 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 27 |
| Debris and open burning | 15 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 7 |
| Fireworks | 6 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 September 2012 | Natural | 4.1 acres | Cheyenne River Agency | YELLOW TREE |
| 24 September 1993 | Debris and open burning | 1.9 acres | Cheyenne River Agency | THUNDERBUT |
| 23 September 2001 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Cheyenne River Agency | YOUNG |
| 22 September 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Cheyenne River Agency | DOUGYOUNG |
| 1 September 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 49 acres | Cheyenne River Agency | TACO |
| 1 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Cheyenne River Agency | DUNGEON |
| 9 August 2006 | Natural | 14 acres | Cheyenne River Agency | JOHN B. |
| 8 August 1997 | Debris and open burning | 2.9 acres | Cheyenne River Agency | THUNDERBUT |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
19 since 2002Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thunder Butte | - | SD mesonet recorded wind gust. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thunder Butte | - | Chaser reported a tree uprooted. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thunder Butte | - | Snapped the trunk of a 30 ft tall Elm Tree that was about a foot in diameter. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thunder Butte | - | Chaser reported a snapped the trunk of a 30 ft tall Elm Tree that was about a foot in diameter. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thunder Butte | - | The combination of wind and hail broke windows in a home. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thunder Butte | - | The spotter estimated wind gusts at 60 mph. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thunder Butte | - | Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph. |
| August 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thunder Butte | - | Wind gusts were estimated near 70 mph. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thunder 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 2022 | Hail | Thunder Butte | - | no account filed |
| June 2015 | Hail | Thunder Butte | - | no account filed |
| June 2012 | Hail | Thunder Butte | - | no account filed |
| June 2011 | Hail | Thunder Butte | - | no account filed |
| June 2011 | Hail | Thunder Butte | - | no account filed |
| July 2007 | Hail | Thunder Butte | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Thunder Butte | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Thunder Butte | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Thunder Butte | - | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thunder Butte | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iron Lightning | 9.6 miles | 7 | |
| Dupree | 12.0 miles | 7 | |
| Red Elm | 12.4 miles | 7 | |
| Allison Crossing | 13.1 miles | 7 | |
| Glad Valley | 14.1 miles | 8 | |
| Chase | 18.9 miles | 6 | |
| Red Scaffold | 32.1 miles | 6 | |
| Cherry Creek | 42.9 miles | 8 |
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 Q141614459 | 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 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.



