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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.

Watauga within Corson County

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 7 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

23 since 2000

Regional 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 use11
Debris and open burning4
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Arson/incendiarism1
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Other causes1
Natural1
Fireworks1

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
3 August 2018Naturalunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionWELLS
3 August 2000Arson/incendiarism5.0 acresStanding Rock AgencyMCINTOSH
26 August 2012Equipment and vehicle use8.4 acresStanding Rock AgencyGROUND BEEF
20 August 2013Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreStanding Rock AgencySURGE
12 August 2000Debris and open burningunder an acreStanding Rock AgencyMCIN6
10 August 2000Debris and open burning50 acresStanding Rock AgencyMCIN5
8 July 2015Equipment and vehicle use1.8 acresStanding Rock AgencyWEST VIRGINIA
6 July 2016Equipment and vehicle use8.0 acresStanding Rock AgencyWELLS

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Corson County

Storms near this place

17 since 1995

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2025Thunderstorm WindWatauga-A farmer estimated winds at 60 mph but no damage was noted.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindWatauga-A trained spotted estimated wind gusts at 60 mph.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindWatauga-Estimated 60 mph winds blew dirt and moved hay bales. The time of the peak wind was estimated based on radar.
August 2019Thunderstorm WindWatauga-Sixty mph winds were estimated.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindWatauga-Sixty mph winds were estimated by the public.
July 2009Thunderstorm WindWatauga-Eighty mph winds ripped the roof off of a workshop.
July 2009Thunderstorm WindWatauga-Several hundred acres of crops were destroyed by pea size hail and seventy mph winds.
August 2002Thunderstorm WindWatauga-Seventy mph winds blew the roof off of a porch and tipped over a grain bin.
August 1995HailWatauga-Large hail caused extensive crop damage.
August 1995Thunderstorm WindWatauga-Large hail caused extensive crop damage.
August 2019HailWatauga-no account filed
July 2018HailWatauga-no account filed
June 2018HailWatauga-no account filed
June 2013HailWatauga-no account filed
June 2011HailWatauga-no account filed
July 2010HailWatauga-no account filed
August 2004Thunderstorm WindWatauga-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Corson 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
Morristown9.6 miles7
McIntosh10.2 miles7
Keldron14.1 miles7
Black Horse16.7 miles7
Thunder Hawk22.9 miles6
Walker24.0 miles6
Miscol26.4 miles7
Bullhead26.8 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.

Wikipedia article on WataugaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7973024The 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.