BlockBefore

Wessington, South Dakota

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1950 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Wessington City. It lies in ZIP code area 57381. The Survey maps it on the Wessington quadrangle. 197 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,417 feet above sea level.

Wessington within Beadle County

On record in Wessington

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 9 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

9 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 9 fires within 5 miles of Wessington between 1998 and 2011, burning about 64 acres in total. 1 started naturally. None 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
Debris and open burning4
Missing data/not specified/undetermined3
Equipment and vehicle use1
Natural1

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
12 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionWESSINGTON ELEVATOR
28 July 2002Natural5.0 acresWessington Volunteer Fire DepartmentJACK LEGRAND
27 July 2002Debris and open burningunder an acreWessington Volunteer Fire DepartmentTIMMERMAN
15 July 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined25 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire Suppressionnot named
8 June 2002Equipment and vehicle use15 acresWessington Volunteer Fire DepartmentDM&E RAILROAD
29 June 2002Debris and open burning1.0 acresWessington Volunteer Fire DepartmentJOHN GULLY
1 May 2002Debris and open burning5.0 acresWessington Volunteer Fire DepartmentROGERS BROS.
14 December 1998Debris and open burning5.0 acresColumbia Volunteer Fire DepartmentC.SCHAUNAMAN

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Beadle County

Storms near this place

47 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Wessington in 47 storm reports between 1994 and 2022: 32 hail, 11 thunderstorm wind, 2 heavy rain, 1 tornado. The reports record 2 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2006Tornado (F3)Wessington2 hurt, $15,000,000A tornado, entering Beadle County from Hand County to the west, destroyed 8 houses, damaged at least 7 other houses, and destroyed or damaged numerous farm buildings. One of the destroyed houses and several destroyed small buildings were on a farmstead 2 miles south of Wessington, and five large high voltage transmission towers were blown down about 3 miles southeast of Wessington. A woman was cut on the neck at one farm southwest of Wolsey where the house and all other buildings were destroyed; the injury was not life threatening. The tornado tossed a car and 2 pickups up to 50 feet at the same farm. Another non life threatening injury occurred southeast of Wolsey, again on a farm where the house and all buildings were destroyed. Several vehicles were destroyed or damaged. The tornado killed 10 head of cattle at one farmstead just south of Wolsey. The tornado snapped off numerous power poles, caused widespread tree damage, and severely damaged a bridge where it crossed U.S. Highway 14. The tornado also caused crop damage, but the amount of crop damage was not known. The tornado dissipated one and a half miles southwest of Huron.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindWessington$100,000Thunderstorm winds blew the roof off a storage building at a business, blew down power lines, destroyed a machine shed on a farm, damaged farm equipment inside the shed, and caused widespread tree damage. The tree damage affected about 15 percent of the trees in the town of Wessington.
August 2019HailWessington$3,000A car was dented by falling and blowing hail.
August 2004Thunderstorm WindWessington$2,000Thunderstorm winds destroyed two outbuildings and caused tree damage.
April 2022HailWessington-While mostly small hail fell, some hailstones were up to 2 inches in diameter. Rainfall totaled around one inch.
July 2021HailWessington-Hail was mostly pea size, but there were a few stones up to ping-pong ball size.
June 2020HailWessington-Hail was reported to vary between pea and quarter size.
July 2017HailWessington-Also wind gusts to 60 mph were estimated that caused a few tree branches to be down.
July 2016Heavy RainWessington-Rainfall of 2.10 inches was measured.
July 2016Heavy RainWessington-Rainfall of 3.50 inches was measured.
June 2013Thunderstorm WindWessington-Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several branches blown down.
June 2010HailWessington-Large hail covered the ground. Crop damage was suspected, but the amount of crop damage was not known.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindWessington-Thunderstorm winds damaged trees and outbuildings.
June 2008Flash FloodWessington-Heavy rain caused flooding of roads.
June 2008HailWessington-Large hail damaged winter wheat crops in the area. The amount of crop damage was not known.
May 2007Thunderstorm WindWessington-Thunderstorm winds tipped over calf shelters. The winds also caused tree damage, including several large trees blown down.
June 2006HailWessington-Large hail dented vehicles. The amount of damage was not known.
August 2006Thunderstorm WindWessington-Thunderstorm wind gusts to 60 mph were accompanied by pea size hail and over 2 inches of rain.
June 2005HailWessington-Large hail was accompanied by winds gusting to near 50 mph.
August 2004Thunderstorm WindWessington-Thunderstorm winds caused tree and power line damage, resulting in a power outage.
June 1994HailWessington-A barn was destroyed and a hog feeder was damaged.
April 2022HailWessington-no account filed
June 2022HailWessington-no account filed
April 2022HailWessington-no account filed
August 2019HailWessington-no account filed
August 2018HailWessington-no account filed
July 2017HailWessington-no account filed
July 2016HailWessington-no account filed
July 2016HailWessington-no account filed
June 2015HailWessington-no account filed
June 2014HailWessington-no account filed
June 2013HailWessington-no account filed
July 2009HailWessington-no account filed
July 2009HailWessington-no account filed
June 2009HailWessington-no account filed
July 2008HailWessington-no account filed
August 2006Thunderstorm WindWessington-no account filed
June 2005HailWessington-no account filed
June 2005Thunderstorm WindWessington-no account filed
June 2005HailWessington-no account filed
September 2005HailWessington-no account filed
September 2005HailWessington-no account filed
September 2005HailWessington-no account filed
August 2004Thunderstorm WindWessington-no account filed
May 2000Thunderstorm WindWessington-no account filed
August 2000HailWessington-no account filed
May 1996HailWessington-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Beadle 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
Wolsey12.2 miles9
Bonilla13.7 miles10
Virgil18.3 miles9
Broadland18.6 miles9
Hitchcock19.5 miles10
James Valley Junction21.9 miles9
Huron26.3 miles10
Huron Colony27.1 miles11

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 WessingtonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2086888The 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 1267671. 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.