Alert archive / South Dakota / Blizzard Warnings in 2009

Blizzard Warning 4, NWS Rapid City, SD

December 24, 200915 counties in South Dakota

NWS Rapid City, SD issued this blizzard warning at Dec 24, 2009, 2:33 PM MST for 15 counties in South Dakota. It took effect at Dec 25, 2009, 5:00 AM MST. It was in force for 41 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Dec 24, 2009, 2:33 PM MST (21:33 UTC)
In effect from
Dec 25, 2009, 5:00 AM MST
Expired
Dec 26, 2009, 10:25 PM MST
In force
41 hr
Issued by
NWS Rapid City, SD

Counties Bennett County, SD, Butte County, SD, Custer County, SD, Haakon County, SD, Harding County, SD, Jackson County, SD, Lawrence County, SD, Meade County, SD, Mellette County, SD, Oglala Lakota County, SD, Pennington County, SD, Perkins County, SD, Todd County, SD, Tripp County, SD, Ziebach County, SD

The radar

The Rapid City radar (KUDX), 52 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:36 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 12:00Z, 9.6 hours before the alert went out and 311 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Aberdeen, SD at 12:00Z on 2009-12-24Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Aberdeen, SD at 12:00Z on 2009-12-24The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 56 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
426 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
56 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
170 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this blizzard warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Rapid City, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before this blizzard warning went out at Dec 24, 3:00 AM MST, 11 hours 33 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 24, 3:00 AM MST, 11 hours 33 minutes before
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Hazardous weather outlook, Dec 24, 5:30 AM MST, 9 hours 3 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
530 AM MST THU DEC 24 2009

SDZ001-002-012>014-024>032-041>044-046-047-049-072>074-WYZ054>058-
071-251400-
BENNETT-BUTTE-CENTRAL BLACK HILLS-CUSTER CO PLAINS-FALL RIVER-HAAKON-
HARDING-HERMOSA FOOT HILLS-JACKSON-MELLETTE-NORTHEASTERN CROOK-
NORTHERN BLACK HILLS-NORTHERN CAMPBELL-NORTHERN FOOT HILLS-
NORTHERN MEADE CO PLAINS-PENNINGTON CO PLAINS-PERKINS-RAPID CITY-
SHANNON-SOUTHERN BLACK HILLS-SOUTHERN CAMPBELL-SOUTHERN FOOT HILLS-
SOUTHERN MEADE CO PLAINS-STURGIS/PIEDMONT FOOT HILLS-TODD-TRIPP-
WESTERN CROOK-WESTON-WYOMING BLACK HILLS-ZIEBACH-
530 AM MST (630 AM CST) THU DEC 24 2009

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA AND
NORTHEASTERN WYOMING.

...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR THE BLACK HILLS AND BEAR LODGE MOUNTAINS
   THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING...
...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR SOUTH CENTRAL AND PARTS OF WESTERN
   SOUTH DAKOTA THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING...
...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR THE PLAINS OF FAR WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA
   FRIDAY MORNING THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING...
...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR THE PLAINS OF FAR WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA
   THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT...
...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING FOR THE SOUTHERN
   BLACK HILLS AND FALL RIVER COUNTY...

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

A PAIR OF LOW PRESSURE SYSTEMS WILL MERGE OVER THE CENTRAL PLAINS
INTO THE MIDWEST BY LATE THIS EVENING. THERE WILL BE A BRIEF BREAK
IN SNOWFALL EARLY TODAY...BUT SNOW WILL AGAIN INTENSIFY LATER TODAY
INTO TONIGHT OVER WESTERN INTO SOUTH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA...ALONG
WITH OVER THE WYOMING BLACK HILLS AND BEAR LODGE MOUNTAINS. GUSTY
NORTHWEST WINDS WILL BRING AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW REDUCING
VISIBILITIES. ALSO...THE WIND WILL COMBINE WITH THE COLD TEMPERATURES
TO BRING WIND CHILL VALUES OF 15 TO 35 BELOW ZERO.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY

GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS WILL INCREASE EARLY FRIDAY...BRINGING
WIDESPREAD BLOWING SNOW OVER WESTERN AND SOUTH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA
WITH VISIBILITIES OF ONE-QUARTER MILE OR LESS AT TIMES PRODUCING
NEAR-BLIZZARD CONDITIONS. SNOW WILL ALSO CONTINUE TO FALL ACROSS THE
AREA...WITH THE HEAVIEST SNOWS OVER THE BLACK HILLS AND SOUTH
CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA. CONDITIONS WILL IMPROVE BY MID-DAY SATURDAY AS
THE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM STARTS TO MOVE OUT OF THE AREA...THOUGH SOME
BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW MAY REMAIN INTO THE EVENING.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY.

Nearby

Blizzard Warnings in South Dakota, 2009Blizzard Warnings in Wyoming, 2009Every blizzard warning in 2009

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.