Hail in South Dakota — where it hits, county by county
Hail is a fact of life on South Dakota ground — 896 National Weather Service hail reports in the last 5 years, led by Pennington County, peaking around July. The table below ranks the counties; the interactive national map shows exactly where, year by year. Checking a specific address? The map’s search box pulls every dated report within 25 miles.
Open the interactive map on South Dakota →Top hail counties in South Dakota (2022–2026)
| County | Reports | Avg/yr | Peak month | % damaging (≥1.5″) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pennington | 325 | 65.0 | Jul | 26% |
| Meade | 139 | 27.8 | Jul | 32% |
| Custer | 110 | 22.0 | Jul | 29% |
| MINNEHAHA | 81 | 16.2 | May | 16% |
| Lawrence | 58 | 11.6 | Jun | 22% |
| Fall River | 54 | 10.8 | Jul | 28% |
| Oglala Lakota | 53 | 10.6 | Jun | 45% |
| Harding | 41 | 8.2 | Jun | 59% |
| Todd | 35 | 7.0 | Jul | 54% |
Key figures — South Dakota hail at a glance
- South Dakota logged 896 National Weather Service hail reports statewide over the last 5 years (2022–2026).
- Pennington County leads South Dakota with 325 hail reports over that span — about 65.0 per year.
- Reported hail in South Dakota peaks in July.
- Roughly 268 of South Dakota's reports involved stones 1.5″ or larger — the size that damages roofs, vehicles, and crops.
Citing these figures? Attribution: AGSIST National Hail Map, https://agsist.com/hail-map/south-dakota (NWS Local Storm Reports, 2022–2026). Data is available at no charge; a link back keeps it that way.
South Dakota hail — the questions people ask
Where does it hail the most in South Dakota?
By reported hail over the last 5 years, the most active counties in South Dakota are Pennington, Meade, Custer. Reports track population and spotter coverage as well as storms, so rural corridors can be under-counted; the persistent leaders on this table are real hail geography.
When is hail season in South Dakota?
Reported hail in South Dakota peaks around July, with most activity in the spring-through-midsummer window. Any single year can break the pattern.
How much of South Dakota's hail is damaging?
On this page, damaging means reported stones of 1.5″ or larger — the size that reliably dents roofs and vehicles and strips crops. The per-county damaging share is in the table; statewide, hail of any size totaled 896 reports over 5 years.
Insurance, roofing, or ag professional using this data in client-facing work? The same dataset is available as a licensable embeddable widget — details on the sponsor page or email sig@farmers1st.com.