May 3, 1895: A tornado moved northeast from 3 miles northwest of Redfield through Ashton. It was estimated to be on the ground for about 5 miles. Several homes were unroofed and barns were destroyed. Tornadoes were also spotted in Minnehaha and Bon Homme Counties in South Dakota. This tornado was estimated at F2 strength.
May 3, 1900: After a daytime high of 52 degrees, the low temperature at Watertown fell to 19 degrees. This was the coldest temperature in the state, the entire month of May, 1900.
May 3, 1960: Late season snowfall of 3 to 7 inches covered Perkins, Corson and Campbell Counties. Lemmon reported 7 inches, and 6 miles SE of McIntosh had 6.5 inches. Main roads were very slippery and some rural roads impassable for about one day.
May 3, 1969: Heavy rain caused local flooding which washed out some roads and crops in Clark County. Some rain fall amounts include, 3.12 inches in the city of Clark and 2.87 one mile northeast of Bryant.
May 3, 1999: Two to four inches of rain fell across southeastern Dewey County causing flash flooding south of La Plant, mainly on Willow Creek. As a result of the flash flooding, several roads were underwater. Highway 212 just south of La Plant was flooded for a few hours along with Highway 8, 15 miles south of La Plant. The flash flooding resulted in some road and bridge damage.
May 3, 2002: With low humidity, very dry vegetation, and increasing South winds, embers from a day old controlled burn initiated a large grassland fire in the early afternoon hours west of Claremont. South winds of 30 to 40 mph gusting to 50 mph caused the fire to spread quickly. The fire expended to 4 miles wide and spread 4 miles north before it was contained late in the evening. Many trees along with a mobile home, an abandoned house, and an old barn were also burned. Seven miles of road had to be closed due to poor visibility for smoke. Eleven fire departments with nearly 150 firefighters extinguished the fire. The fire was completely put out during the afternoon hours of the 4th. This was one of the largest grassland fires in Brown County history.
1895: Four schools were leveled by what was probably an F5 tornado in Sioux County, IA. A teacher killed at the first school struck was the brother of a teacher killed at the second school struck, several miles away. School children were carried for up to half a mile, sustaining severe injuries. There were 9 fatalities in the tornado.

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