An unusual high wind event occured this day as strong southwesterly low-level winds combined with a strong surface pressure gradient to produce high winds. High wind events usually occur behind a cold front with strong northwest winds developing, southwest winds of this magnitude have not been noted over this area for several years.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS UNR wrote it up.
An unusual high wind event occured this day as strong southwesterly low-level winds combined with a strong surface pressure gradient to produce high winds. High wind events usually occur behind a cold front with strong northwest winds developing, southwest winds of this magnitude have not been noted over this area for several years.
The local office's own words before the first event, 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 the first event at Dec 1, 2:50 PM MST, 1 hour 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR WESTERN SD AND NORTHEASTERN WY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD 250 PM MST SAT DEC 1 2001 MAIN FORECAST CONCERN CONTINUES TO BE TEMPS...ALONG WITH WINDS THRU TOMORROW...ACROSS PARTS OF THE AREA. RIGHT NOW...WARM FRONT SITS ACROSS NE WY AND INTO FAR SW SD. SW WINDS ARE QUITE GUSTY ACROSS NE WY AND PARTS OF THE HILLS AS STRONG BL WINDS ARE FOCUSED ACROSS THESE AREAS. GUSTY WINDS EXPECTED TO EXTEND INTO SC SD OVERNIGHT AS 85MB JET STRENGTHENS AND EXPANDS EASTWARD. WARM FRONT PASSES SLOWLY THRU CWA TONIGHT AND EARLY TOMORROW TO ALLOW FOR FURTHER WARMING SUN AND MON. AREAS WITH HEAVIER SNOW PACK ACROSS SC SD WILL STRUGGLE TO WARM UP. WENT CLOSER TO MILDER MAV TEMPS WHERE SNOW PACK IS NOT AS MUCH OF AN ISSUE. NEXT SYSTEM OF ANY SIGNIFICANCE WILL BE A COLD FRONT CROSSING THE AREA LATE MON NIGHT AND EARLY TUE. NOT MUCH PCPN ANTICIPATED AS IT PASSES...SO WILL PUT IN 20 TO 30 POPS. A SYSTEM DEVELOPS ACROSS THE CENT PLAINS LATER ON TUES AND MOVES INTO UPPER MIDWEST BY WED. BACK EDGE OF SYSTEM MAY BRING SOME RAIN OR SNOW TO SC SD COUNTIES TUE NIGHT AND EARLY WED...SO WILL LEAVE CHANCE OF RAIN OR SNOW THERE. OTHERWISE...EXTENDED FORECAST LOOKS MAINLY DRY WITH SEASONABLE TEMPS...AS ZONAL FLOW PREDOMINATES. .UNR...NONE. ST
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in South Dakota in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in South Dakota, December 2001
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5275803, 5275802.