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Wolsey, South Dakota

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1898 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Wolsey town. It lies in ZIP code area 57384. The Survey maps it on the Wolsey quadrangle. 459 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,352 feet above sea level.

Wolsey within Beadle County

Population over time

2 figures

Wolsey grew from 376 to 459 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2010376
2020459+83 (+22%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 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

16 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 16 fires within 5 miles of Wolsey between 2000 and 2020, burning about 420 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 burning7
Equipment and vehicle use5
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2
Smoking1
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
29 September 2020Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionWALTERS FIRE
26 September 2020Equipment and vehicle use60 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionHAEDER SLOUGH FIRE
3 July 2017Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionLARSEN SINGLE BALE
8 June 2018Naturalunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionFRANK LIGHTNING
16 June 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression281 DITCH FIRE
30 May 2017Debris and open burningunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionLARSEN BALES
29 May 2020Smokingunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionDITCH FIRE
2 May 2000Debris and open burning30 acresHuron Wetland Management DistrictWOLSEY FIR

Every fire recorded in Beadle County

Storms near this place

53 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Wolsey in 53 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 27 hail, 23 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 1 funnel cloud. 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 2012HailWolsey$20,000Large hail dented vehicles, broke windshields, and damaged roofs. There was also an unknown amount of crop damage.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindWolsey$20,000Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including numerous trees and large limbs blown down. Falling trees and tree debris damaged power lines and caused a power outage. A car was also damaged by a falling tree.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindWolsey-Thunderstorm wind gusts measured by a Road Weather Information System sensor near Wolsey.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindWolsey-Thunderstorm winds removed the roof from an outbuilding.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindWolsey-Thunderstorm wind gusts were measured by a Road Weather Information System sensor near Wolsey, with a peak of 60 mph at 0806 CST.
June 2024HailWolsey-A brief period of hail occurred, with some up to the size of quarters.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindWolsey-An extended period of severe thunderstorm wind gusts occurred at the South Dakota Road Weather Information System site near Wolsey, with a peak gust of 70 mph at 157 am CST.
July 2022HailWolsey-Crop damage is an estimate from insured losses. Information provided by the United States Department of Agriculture.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindWolsey-Thunderstorm wind gusts downed a large tree branch. Crop damage is an estimate from insured losses. Information provided by the United States Department of Agriculture.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindWolsey-An extended period of thunderstorm wind gusts from 60 to 80 mph was measured by South Dakota Road Weather Information System site SD582 3 miles north-northwest of Wolsey. A peak wind gust of 78 mph occurred at 1247CST.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindWolsey-Thunderstorm wind gusts of 70 mph were measured by a personal weather station in Wolsey.
June 2020HailWolsey-Crop damage is estimated from insured losses. Information provided by the United States Department of Agriculture.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindWolsey-RWIS station 164 SD near Wolsey, SD measured winds of 65 mph. Crop damage is an estimate from insured losses.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindWolsey-South Dakota RWIS station SD582, 3 miles north northwest of Wolsey, measured a peak wind gust of 61 mph.
July 2020HailWolsey-Hail was mostly pea-sized with some up to the size of a penny, which was accompanied by winds to around 45 mph.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindWolsey-Strong winds displaced silo dump wagons.
July 2019Thunderstorm WindWolsey-Measured by RWIS station.
June 2017HailWolsey-Via Social Media.
July 2017Thunderstorm WindWolsey-Wind gusts knocked down a few tree branches. A little pea size hail also occurred.
July 2016HailWolsey-Large hail caused suspected crop damage, but the amount of crop damage was not known.
June 2015Tornado (EF0)Wolsey-A brief tornado caused no reported damage.
June 2015Thunderstorm WindWolsey-Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage.
June 2013HailWolsey-Large hail damaged vehicles and crops. The amount of damage was not known.
May 2012HailWolsey-Large hail covered the ground.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindWolsey-Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several branches blown down.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindWolsey-Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several branches blown down.
May 2007Tornado (EF0)Wolsey-A brief tornado caused no reported damage.
July 2022HailWolsey-no account filed
April 2022HailWolsey-no account filed
July 2021HailWolsey-no account filed
July 2021HailWolsey-no account filed
July 2019HailWolsey-no account filed
June 2015HailWolsey-no account filed
June 2014Funnel CloudWolsey-no account filed
May 2011HailWolsey-no account filed
May 2011HailWolsey-no account filed
March 2011HailWolsey-no account filed
July 2009HailWolsey-no account filed
May 2008HailWolsey-no account filed
May 2007HailWolsey-no account filed
August 2006Thunderstorm WindWolsey-no account filed
August 2006Thunderstorm WindWolsey-no account filed
August 2006Thunderstorm WindWolsey-no account filed
July 2005Thunderstorm WindWolsey-no account filed
August 2005HailWolsey-no account filed
July 2003Thunderstorm WindWolsey-no account filed
June 2001HailWolsey-no account filed
July 2001HailWolsey-no account filed
July 2001HailWolsey-no account filed
June 1999HailWolsey-no account filed
June 1999Thunderstorm WindWolsey-no account filed
June 1999HailWolsey-no account filed
July 1997Thunderstorm WindWolsey-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
Virgil8.5 miles9
Broadland8.9 miles9
James Valley Junction9.7 miles9
Bonilla12.1 miles10
Wessington12.2 miles9
Huron14.1 miles10
Morningside15.5 miles10
Hitchcock15.7 miles10

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 WolseyAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1960980The 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 1259072. 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.