Fairfax, SD Natural Disasters and Weather Extremes
Hot Rankings
The chance of earthquake damage in Fairfax is about the same as South Dakota average and is much lower than the national average. The risk of tornado damage in Fairfax is higher than South Dakota average and is lower than the national average.
Earthquake Index, #234
| Fairfax, SD | 0.02 |
| South Dakota | 0.05 |
| U.S. | 1.81 |
The earthquake index value is calculated based on historical earthquake events data using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the earthquake level in a region. A higher earthquake index value means a higher chance of an earthquake.
Volcano Index, #1
| Fairfax, SD | 0.0000 |
| South Dakota | 0.0000 |
| U.S. | 0.0023 |
The volcano index value is calculated based on the currently known volcanoes using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the possibility of a region being affected by a possible volcano eruption. A higher volcano index value means a higher chance of being affected.
Tornado Index, #148
| Fairfax, SD | 125.72 |
| South Dakota | 114.73 |
| U.S. | 136.45 |
The tornado index value is calculated based on historical tornado events data using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the tornado level in a region. A higher tornado index value means a higher chance of tornado events.
Other Weather Extremes Events
A total of 1,908 other weather extremes events within 50 miles of Fairfax, SD were recorded from 1950 to 2010. The following is a break down of these events:
| Type | Count | Type | Count | Type | Count | Type | Count | Type | Count |
| Avalanche: | 0 | Blizzard: | 19 | Cold: | 3 | Dense Fog: | 0 | Drought: | 6 |
| Dust Storm: | 0 | Flood: | 55 | Hail: | 1,229 | Heat: | 0 | Heavy Snow: | 23 |
| High Surf: | 0 | Hurricane: | 0 | Ice Storm: | 2 | Landslide: | 0 | Strong Wind: | 17 |
| Thunderstorm Winds: | 496 | Tropical Storm: | 0 | Wildfire: | 1 | Winter Storm: | 12 | Winter Weather: | 21 |
| Other: | 24 | ||||||||
Volcanos Nearby
No volcano is found in or near Fairfax, SD.
Historical Earthquake Events
No historical earthquake events that had recorded magnitudes of 3.5 or above found in or near Fairfax, SD.
No historical earthquake events found in or near Fairfax, SD.
Historical Tornado Events
A total of 39 historical tornado events that had recorded magnitude of 2 or above found in or near Fairfax, SD.
| Distance (miles) | Date | Magnitude | Start Lat/Log | End Lat/Log | Length | Width | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage | Crop Damage | Affected County |
| 4.1 | 1962-05-16 | 3 | 43°04'N / 98°57'W | 0 | 2 | 0K | 0 | Charles Mix | |||
| 4.6 | 1962-05-14 | 3 | 43°00'N / 99°02'W | 43°06'N / 98°55'W | 8.50 Miles | 1760 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Charles Mix |
| 13.7 | 1962-05-21 | 3 | 42°52'N / 98°43'W | 43°00'N / 98°35'W | 11.00 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Boyd |
| 15.1 | 1992-05-15 | 2 | 42°49'N / 98°58'W | 1.00 Mile | 50 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Holt | |
| 15.5 | 1962-05-21 | 3 | 43°00'N / 98°35'W | 43°00'N / 98°35'W | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Charles Mix | ||
| 16.1 | 2002-08-09 | 2 | 43°07'N / 99°12'W | 43°07'N / 99°10'W | 2.00 Miles | 200 Yards | 0 | 0 | 1.0M | 0 | Gregory |
| Brief Description: A tornado destroyed a church, a county highway shop, several garages, several small sheds, a mobile home, a camper, and a ten thousand bushel silo. The church was ripped from its foundation, with debris and contents blown over a wide area. Tree damage includes uprooted trees, and power lines were blown down. A resulting power outage lasted for several hours. Windows in many homes and some businesses were broken. The Herrick Honey House was severely damaged, and a honey truck was tipped over. Holes were punched in the walls of some houses by flying debris. | |||||||||||
| 20.5 | 1992-05-15 | 2 | 42°44'N / 98°56'W | 0.50 Mile | 50 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Holt | |
| 21.1 | 1962-05-29 | 4 | 42°41'N / 98°27'W | 43°00'N / 98°40'W | 24.20 Miles | 300 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Holt |
| 21.7 | 1992-05-15 | 2 | 42°46'N / 98°39'W | 1.00 Mile | 50 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Holt | |
| 24.4 | 1965-05-08 | 3 | 43°10'N / 99°20'W | 1.50 Miles | 20 Yards | 0 | 0 | 3K | 0 | Gregory | |
| 25.4 | 1992-05-15 | 2 | 42°45'N / 99°13'W | 1.00 Mile | 50 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Holt | |
| 26.5 | 1971-06-04 | 2 | 43°23'N / 98°51'W | 43°26'N / 98°47'W | 4.30 Miles | 137 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Charles Mix |
| 26.6 | 1954-08-01 | 2 | 43°16'N / 99°28'W | 43°07'N / 99°16'W | 14.20 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 2 | 0K | 0 | Gregory |
| 28.4 | 1962-05-15 | 3 | 43°12'N / 99°24'W | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Gregory | |||
| 28.9 | 1954-07-29 | 2 | 43°03'N / 98°20'W | 42°59'N / 98°18'W | 4.10 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Charles Mix |
| 29.7 | 1973-06-24 | 2 | 43°01'N / 98°18'W | 1 | 1 | 25K | 0 | Charles Mix | |||
| 30.2 | 1962-05-14 | 3 | 42°53'N / 99°55'W | 43°00'N / 99°02'W | 45.30 Miles | 1760 Yards | 0 | 8 | 250K | 0 | Boyd |
| 30.9 | 1966-06-04 | 2 | 43°14'N / 99°26'W | 1.00 Mile | 800 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Gregory | |
| 33.2 | 1998-10-28 | 2 | 42°32'N / 98°58'W | 42°34'N / 98°58'W | 2.00 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 0 | 50K | 0 | Holt |
| Brief Description: Tornado touched down on the northeast edge of Atkinson and remained on the ground for nearly 1 mile. The tornado destroyed a pole barn. It also carried a metal shed 100 yards and damaged trees and feed bunks. The tornado touched down two more times, once 1 mile north of Atkinson, just east of Highway 11, and again 2 miles north of Atkinson, just west of Highway 11, doing minor tree damage. | |||||||||||
| 35.4 | 1971-10-18 | 2 | 43°13'N / 99°32'W | 43°15'N / 99°32'W | 2.30 Miles | 367 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Turner |
| 35.4 | 2009-06-24 | 2 | 42°38'N / 99°19'W | 42°35'N / 99°16'W | 5.00 Miles | 20 Yards | 0 | 0 | 200K | 15K | Rock |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: A tornado touched down north of Newport and overturned 2 center pivot irrigation systems, moved a 5000 bushel gran bin approximately 75 yards, snapped a large electrical transmission line pole, snapped a smaller wooden power pole, broke off numerous tree limbs, damaged the roof of an outbuilding, and picked up and spun around an empty grain truck traveling on Highway 20. The truck was heading west and was picked up and deposited in the south ditch. A storm chaser on Highway 20 also witnessed the tornado. EPISODE NARRATIVE: A supercell dropped south out of South Dakota and into north central Nebraska late in the evening. The supercell produced strong winds...large hail...and 2 brief tornadoes. | |||||||||||
| 37.2 | 1996-06-19 | 2 | 42°31'N / 98°46'W | 42°29'N / 98°43'W | 3.00 Miles | 350 Yards | 0 | 0 | 1.0M | 0 | Holt |
| Brief Description: TORNADO ON THE GROUND FOR 3 MILES. THREE FARMSTEADS HEAVILY DAMAGED. THREE HEAD OF LIVESTOCK KILLED. HEAVY DAMAGE TO LARGE POWER TRANSMISSION LINE. CENTER PIVOT IRRIGAION SYSTEM DESTROYED. | |||||||||||
| 37.4 | 1968-06-20 | 2 | 43°29'N / 98°51'W | 43°36'N / 98°27'W | 21.40 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Charles Mix |
| 37.8 | 1986-07-28 | 2 | 43°26'N / 98°23'W | 1.90 Miles | 80 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Douglas | |
| 38.7 | 1965-05-08 | 2 | 42°21'N / 99°29'W | 43°00'N / 99°29'W | 44.90 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Rock |
| 39.8 | 1968-06-20 | 2 | 43°23'N / 99°26'W | 43°44'N / 98°58'W | 33.50 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Gregory |
| 40.0 | 1969-06-25 | 2 | 43°24'N / 98°14'W | 43°26'N / 98°22'W | 6.60 Miles | 200 Yards | 0 | 2 | 25K | 0 | Douglas |
| 40.2 | 2008-06-05 | 2 | 42°25'N / 99°13'W | 42°33'N / 99°07'W | 10.00 Miles | 50 Yards | 0 | 0 | 150K | 15K | Holt |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: A supercell tornado touched down just north-northeast of Rose in Rock County and entered Holt County approximately 13 miles south-southwest of Stuart and continued for another 10 miles before dissipating 3 miles south-southeast of Stuart. In Holt County, the multiple vortex tornado broke off power poles, destroyed outbuildings, overturned several center pivot irrigation systems, snapped and uprooted numerous large trees, damaged roofs, and moved vehicles. The tornado maintained the EF2 rating in both Rock and Holt Counties. The average path width in Holt County was 30 yards with the maximum width of 50 yards. EPISODE NARRATIVE: Supercell thunderstorms developed along a nearly stationary front across southwest Nebraska during the afternoon hours of June 4th and continued through the afternoon of June 5th. The storms produced very large hail during the overninght and morning hours, then some tornadoes during the afternoon of June 5th. | |||||||||||
| 40.2 | 2003-06-09 | 3 | 42°32'N / 98°48'W | 42°26'N / 98°25'W | 23.00 Miles | 880 Yards | 0 | 0 | 5.7M | 1.3M | Holt |
| Brief Description: As the tornado initially touched down, it encountered a farmstead and destroyed three barns, a detached garage, and 3 large metal grain binds, and also ripped off a portion of the house roof, broke windows, and uprooted and snapped off 90% of the trees around the farmstead. As the tornado moved southeast, it hit two more farmsteads where it completely overturned a modular home, destroyed barns, snapped off nearly all trees. Further along the path to the southeast, the tornado threw farm machinery one quarter mile into a grove of trees. Then it hit another farm where it ripped off an attached garage on a house, broke most windows in the house, moved an old home off its foundation 2 feet, and killed one cow and extensively injured 14 other cows. A barn was also destroyed at a dairy farm across the road to the southeast. The tornado then moved southeast mainly across farmland destroying fields of corn and soybeans, overturning 200 hundred center pivot irrigation systems, snapping off 1,000 power poles, and breaking off numerous large trees. As the tornado passed 3 miles north of O'Neill, it destroyed storage sheds at numerous homesteads. Baseball size hail associated with the storm punctured holes in vinyl siding and broke windows and skylights in homes. Finally just before dissipating 2 miles north of Page, the tornado lifted the front porch on a home which then took off the roof and one exterior wall of the home. | |||||||||||
| 41.3 | 1962-05-14 | 3 | 43°24'N / 98°23'W | 43°30'N / 98°14'W | 9.70 Miles | 1760 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Douglas |
| 41.7 | 1965-05-08 | 5 | 43°00'N / 99°43'W | 43°26'N / 99°38'W | 30.10 Miles | 1760 Yards | 0 | 1 | 2.5M | 0 | Tripp |
| 42.6 | 1965-05-08 | 3 | 42°06'N / 99°06'W | 42°44'N / 98°54'W | 44.80 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25.0M | 0 | Holt |
| 44.5 | 1986-07-28 | 2 | 43°39'N / 98°43'W | 43°39'N / 98°36'W | 3.50 Miles | 80 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Aurora |
| 45.6 | 1963-06-08 | 2 | 42°50'N / 99°45'W | 0.30 Mile | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 3K | 0 | Keya Paha | |
| 45.7 | 1957-04-18 | 2 | 43°15'N / 99°44'W | 43°19'N / 99°43'W | 3.80 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 3K | 0 | Tripp |
| 49.2 | 1957-06-30 | 2 | 43°22'N / 99°45'W | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Tripp | |||
| 49.6 | 1965-05-08 | 2 | 43°40'N / 99°14'W | 43°43'N / 99°18'W | 4.30 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Brule |
| 49.8 | 1954-06-10 | 2 | 43°43'N / 99°11'W | 1.00 Mile | 30 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Brule | |
| 49.9 | 1986-07-28 | 2 | 43°47'N / 99°00'W | 43°43'N / 98°54'W | 6.00 Miles | 80 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Brule |
* The information on this page is based on the global volcano database, the U.S. earthquake database of 1638-1985, and the U.S. Tornado and Weather Extremes database of 1950-2010.