Watauga, South Dakota
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1998. It stands in Watauga Township. It lies in ZIP code area 57660. The Survey maps it on the Watauga quadrangle. It stands 2,247 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 7 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.
- 1953 USGS McIntosh quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS McIntosh quadrangle1:250000
- 1972 USGS Watauga quadrangle1:24000
- 1980 USGS McIntosh quadrangle1:100000
- 1998 USGS Watauga quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
23 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 23 fires within 5 miles of Watauga between 2000 and 2020, burning about 745 acres in total. 1 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 |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 11 |
| Debris and open burning | 4 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Fireworks | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 August 2018 | Natural | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | WELLS |
| 3 August 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 5.0 acres | Standing Rock Agency | MCINTOSH |
| 26 August 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 8.4 acres | Standing Rock Agency | GROUND BEEF |
| 20 August 2013 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Standing Rock Agency | SURGE |
| 12 August 2000 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Standing Rock Agency | MCIN6 |
| 10 August 2000 | Debris and open burning | 50 acres | Standing Rock Agency | MCIN5 |
| 8 July 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.8 acres | Standing Rock Agency | WEST VIRGINIA |
| 6 July 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 8.0 acres | Standing Rock Agency | WELLS |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
17 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Watauga in 17 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 10 thunderstorm wind, 7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watauga | - | A farmer estimated winds at 60 mph but no damage was noted. |
| May 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watauga | - | A trained spotted estimated wind gusts at 60 mph. |
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watauga | - | Estimated 60 mph winds blew dirt and moved hay bales. The time of the peak wind was estimated based on radar. |
| August 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watauga | - | Sixty mph winds were estimated. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watauga | - | Sixty mph winds were estimated by the public. |
| July 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watauga | - | Eighty mph winds ripped the roof off of a workshop. |
| July 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watauga | - | Several hundred acres of crops were destroyed by pea size hail and seventy mph winds. |
| August 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watauga | - | Seventy mph winds blew the roof off of a porch and tipped over a grain bin. |
| August 1995 | Hail | Watauga | - | Large hail caused extensive crop damage. |
| August 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watauga | - | Large hail caused extensive crop damage. |
| August 2019 | Hail | Watauga | - | no account filed |
| July 2018 | Hail | Watauga | - | no account filed |
| June 2018 | Hail | Watauga | - | no account filed |
| June 2013 | Hail | Watauga | - | no account filed |
| June 2011 | Hail | Watauga | - | no account filed |
| July 2010 | Hail | Watauga | - | no account filed |
| August 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watauga | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morristown | 9.6 miles | 7 | |
| McIntosh | 10.2 miles | 7 | |
| Keldron | 14.1 miles | 7 | |
| Black Horse | 16.7 miles | 7 | |
| Thunder Hawk | 22.9 miles | 6 | |
| Walker | 24.0 miles | 6 | |
| Miscol | 26.4 miles | 7 | |
| Bullhead | 26.8 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.
| Wikipedia article on Watauga | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7973024 | 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 1258838. 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.




