Blizzard in South Dakota, December 16 to 18, 1996

A powerful Alberta Clipper and a slow moving deep Arctic high pressure brought widespread prolonged blizzard conditions to central, northcentral and northeast South Dakota. The Clipper dropped from 1 to 5 inches of snow on top of the already expansive and deep snow cover of 1 to almost 4 feet. Late in the morning of the 16th across central and north central South Dakota, north winds increased to 25 to 40 mph gusting to 55 mph, temperatures fell, widespread blizzard conditions and dangerous wind chills of 40 to 70 below developed and prevailed to noon on the 18th. Across northeast South Dakota, conditions deteriorated through late in the day of the 16th, with widespread blowing snow, falling temperatures and dangerous wind chills. Widespread blizzard conditions developed on the morning of the 17th and continued into the evening of the 18th. Due to the massive amount of blowing snow, widespread heavy drifting occurred across the entire area, blocking roads and making travel impossible. Some snowdrifts from the storm were as high as 15 feet with a few houses almost buried. A Burlington Northern Locomotive became stuck in a 12 foot drift near Hazel and had to be dug out. Due to the weight of the snow, the roof of a hanger at the Gettysburg Airport collapsed onto an airplane, crushing the plane. All schools were let out early on the 16th with some schools not reopening until the 20th. Several school buses went into the ditch or got stuck in drifts and had to be pulled out. Many people had to be rescued as their vehicles became stuck in drifts or they went into the ditch because they could not see the road. Some people had to wait to be rescued for many hours, for some over a day. There were several accidents, most with minor injuries. Although, one accident in Dewey county resulted in serious injury. Most of the roads, state highways and Interstate-90 were closed for a day or two until road crews could get to them. This left many people stranded to wait out the storm. Interstate-29 also received heavy drifting, with parts of it closed for awhile during the storm. Most snow plows had to be called back, because they cold not see the roads or the roads would be drifted over shortly after they were plowed. Some county snow removal budgets were already depleted or were close to being depleted. Emergency personnel and road crews were working extended hours to keep up with the storm. Rescue vehicles had a real difficult time responding to emergencies. In one case, a lady from Mobridge had to be brought to Aberdeen. The 100-mile trip took six hours. Also, a rural Westport man died, because the rescue units could not get to him in time. Airports were closed or flights were canceled or delayed. Mail was delayed for some people up to several days with a huge backup of Christmas packages. Some government offices and many buisnesses were closed for several days. All sports and other activities were postponed or canceled. Ranchers had a difficult time getting feed to the their livestock. Many cattle were lost and had to be found as they walked on snow drifts over fences. Also, several livestock and countless numbers of pheasants were killed by the storm with some buried in the snow. Several dairy producers had to dump thousands of pounds of milk, because trucks could not get to them in time. Fortunately, there were only spotty power outages throughout the storm. For several hours on the night of the 16th in the extreme cold, 3000 people in Pierre were without power for several hours.