High Wind in South Dakota, April 5, 2000

High winds of 35 to 50 mph gusting to around 70 mph blew across northeast South Dakota from the late morning into the early evening hours. As a result, several trees and many tree branches were downed, many structures, roofs, billboards, and road signs were damaged, a few mobile homes were overturned and some power outages occurred. Not only did the high winds make driving difficult but, at some locations, they stirred up dirt causing visibilities to drop to near zero at times. Some detours and traffic collisions resulted due to the low visibility in blowing dirt. Airborne objects broke some windows across the area. A few semi tractor-trailers were also tipped over by the high winds. High winds included, 58 mph at Watertown, 59 mph at Sisseton, 61 mph at Faulkton, 64 mph at Aberdeen, 70 mph at Milbank, and 71 mph at Britton.The high winds and extremely dry conditions combined with downed and arcing electrical lines, out of control burns, and smoldering embers from previous fires resulted in many grassfires across northeast South Dakota. Several thousand acres of grassland, hundreds of haybales and haystacks, along with some trees and fences were burned. There were also some spotty evacuations across the area. Smoke from some of these fires created low visibilities and difficult driving conditions on some roads.