I was under the impression that this region got less snow but it looks like the biggest city in western South Dakota which is Rapid City gets 39.7 inches of snow on average according to NOAA. In the month of May the city averages 0.8 inches per year.
Averages were crushed Thursday night and into Friday morning as a blizzard swept the region. This wasn't one of those Great Lakes region blizzards that never meet blizzard criteria. This one was significant. During the storm the Rapid City area received heavy snow and winds in excess of 50mph. I believe only the lack of significantly cold air kept this storm from reaching the severe blizzard stage.
By the time the storm ended the area had received as much as a foot and a half of snow.
I was fortunate enough to get a video sent to me of the blizzard and what it left behind. Unfortunately the night shot isn't very good as the video was shot using a cell phone. The daytime video is better but still the overall quality is a bit low since the video had to be enlarged for you see it better. Here are a couple things to note in the video. At points you can see where the snow is half way up a chain link fence. Also in the video you can see where the snow is covering the front bumper of a car. Also across the street in the video there is snow drifted as high as the bottoms of windows in a building.
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If it gets any hotter around here, we'll all freeze to death....
You know whats amazing? This area is getting hit by a blizzard again.
| Official Advisory/Bulletin: |
| ... BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 5 PM MST THURSDAY... A BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 5 PM MST THURSDAY. SNOW WILL BECOME HEAVY THIS EVENING... ESPECIALLY BETWEEN 800 PM THIS EVENING AND 800 AM THURSDAY. SNOWFALL TOTALS OF 4 TO 8 INCHES ARE EXPECTED THROUGH THURSDAY AFTERNOON. NORTHWEST WINDS WILL BLOW AT 30 TO 40 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 60 MPH. THE STRONG WINDS AND SNOWFALL WILL PRODUCE A BLIZZARD TONIGHT AND THURSDAY. |
| Alert, Advisory, Warning, etc from a government agency. |
Right now it is 31 degrees with heavy snow and winds gusting to 70mph in Rapid City. Now that is a serious blizzard.
thats crazy. send it my way!
I'm hearing this blizzard was much worse than the May one. It actually shut the city down. Hoping for pics.
I have video but having a hard time getting it processed. The blizzard was incredible. Huge drifts. In the video you see an open door to the outside with snow half way up the door. This area gets about 5" of snow typically during the month of November. I'm guessing they got close to 2 feet.
Here are some pics.
More pics.
And the last pic I have.
Video from the same area.
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| Official Advisory/Bulletin: |
| SDC031-070200- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED CIVIL EMERGENCY MESSAGE CORSON COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY RELAYED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD 134 PM CST THU NOV 6 2008 THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS TRANSMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE CORSON COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY. THE CORSON COUNTY SHERIFF HAS ISSUED A NO TRAVEL ADVISORY FOR U.S. HIGHWAY 12 DUE TO LOW VISIBILITY IN HEAVY SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW. NUMEROUS POWER LINES HAVE BEEN REPORTED DOWN THROUGHOUT CORSON COUNTY AS WELL. $$ NWS |
| Alert, Advisory, Warning, etc from a government agency. |
| Official Advisory/Bulletin: |
| SDC041-071115- CIVIL EMERGENCY MESSAGE DEWEY COUNTY SHERIFF RELAYED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD 702 PM CST THU NOV 6 2008 THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS TRANSMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE DEWEY COUNTY SHERIFF. THE DEWEY COUNTY SHERIFF HAS ISSUED A NO TRAVEL ADVISORY FOR DEWEY COUNTY DUE TO LOW VISIBILITY IN SNOW WITH BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW. $$ MOHR |
| Alert, Advisory, Warning, etc from a government agency. |
| Quoting |
More pics. |
My mom is a Nodak and likes to remind us how tame our winters are. We usually don't get below freezing, let alone below zero. We freak out over half an inch of snow.
| Quote From Source: |
| The storm already has dropped 45.7 inches of snow near Deadwood, in the northern Black Hills. Reports of 10 inches to 2 feet of snow were received from many West River counties. In some towns, residents reported drifts were blocking their doorways, and in the southwestern corner of the state, 20-foot snowdrifts were reported on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. |
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nope, u just jump off of ur roof into that.
Snowboarding I assume? :-)
no...you just run off your roof and land in the snow feet first. 
It was pretty cool here today, nothing impressive like this though. I'd like to have a real winter for once. That looks pretty wild for this early.
This same area is under a blizzard warning yet again. This marks the 3rd since May 1st. This storm appears to be more about white out conditions and less about large snowfall totals. This will be followed by severe cold with low temperatures Sunday night in excess of -15F with wind chills possibly colder than -40F. Under the old wind chill table that would have been reported as being colder than -60F.