High Wind, Northern Foot Hills
- When
- December 3, 4:12 AM MST
- Where
- Northern Foot Hills forecast zone
- Measured
- 73 kt (84 mph)
- Reported by
- TRAINED SPOTTER
- Coordinates
- 44.359, -103.792 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
High Wind in South Dakota, December 3, 2001
A spotter in the foothills west of Spearfish measured a wind gust of 84 mph.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
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.
What happened
The episode as NWS UNR wrote it up.
A spotter in the foothills west of Spearfish measured a wind gust of 84 mph.
What forecasters said that day
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 3, 2:30 AM MST, 1 hour 42 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Dec 3, 2:30 AM MST, 1 hour 42 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR WESTERN SD AND NORTHEASTERN WY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD 230 AM MST MON DEC 3 2001 ANOTHER WINDY NIGHT ACRS NE WY AND SW SD. LKS LIKE THIS WL BE THE LAST NIGHT FOR SUCH WINDY CONDITIONS. MAIN CONCERN AGAIN WL BE TEMPS THRU FCST PD. MDLS AGAIN AGREE WITH MAIN SYNOPTIC FEATURES...BUT AVN IS QUITE A BIT COOLER THAN ETA. TDY W TO SW LL FLOW WL CONTINUE HELPING TEMPS TO REACH THE UPR 40S TO MID 50S MOST AREAS OVR THE PLNS. SHLD GET RID OF MOST OF THE SNOW CVR ACRS WRN SD TDY...SOME MAY STILL LINGER OVR ERN AREAS. TNGT S/W WL MOV INTO NE WY AND NW SD HELPING TO PUSH IN A COLD FNT. MOISTURE IS LACKING AND HAVE TAKEN ALL POPS OUT OF FCST. AS FOR TEMPS...SINCE BOTH ETA AND AVN HAVE TRENDED TOWARD A WARMER FCST FOR TNGT THAN YESTERDAYS 00Z RUNS WL GO WITH A COMPROMISE OF THE TWO. WINDS LK TO DECOUPLE IN THE S CTRL...BUT SHLD STAY UP A BIT OVR REMAINDER OF CWA. LOWS WL LIKELY FALL INTO THE LWR TO MID 20S MOST AREAS. MAY SEE SOME PATCHY FOG S CTRL...BUT THINK THE WEAK W FLOW SHLD KEEP IT TO A MINIMUM. TMRW...COOLER AIR CONTINUES TO FILTER INTO WRN SD BEHIND COLD FNT. TEMPS AGAIN TRICKY SINCE A LOT WL DEPEND ON HOW MUCH SNOW IS LEFT AFTER TDY. WINDS WL ALSO TURN MORE SLY IN THE AFTN AS HI PRES MOVES INTO ERN SD. THIS WL LIKELY KEEP TEMPS DOWN A BIT FROM THEIR FULL POTENTIAL IN THE ERN CWA WHERE WINDS WL PROBABLY STILL BE COMING OFF OF SOME SNOW. WENT WITH HIGHS A BIT BELOW MOS IN THE MID 30S TO MID 40S. BY TMRW EVE...AN AREA OF LOW PRES WL MOV ONTO SRN PLNS. AVN IS TRYING TO DVLP SOME LIGHT PRECIP OVR S CTRL...BUT JUST DO NOT SEE THE LIFT BEING THAT FAR N. WINDS WL DIE OFF AND SHLD SEE LOWS MAINLY IN THE TEENS WITH A FEW READINGS IN THE 20S POSSIBLE. WL START TO SEE SOME CLDS FM NEXT SYSTEM MVG IN FM W BY WED AFTN...BUT CONTINUED DRY WITH SEASONABLE TEMPS. ALSO A LTL BREEZY...ESP WRN CWA. CURRENT EXTENDED LKS GD WITH CHC OF PRECIP EARLY THEN RIDGE BUILDS IN FOR THE WEEKEND WITH DRY CONDITIONS AND TEMPERATURES CONTINUED SEASONABLE. .UNR...NONE. JMG
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- High Wind
- Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- High Surf in American Samoa, December 3 to 7, 2001
- High Surf in California, December 3 to 4, 2001
- Heavy Snow in Oregon, December 3 to 4, 2001
- High Surf in Hawaii, December 3 to 16, 2001
- Dense Fog in California, December 3, 2001
- Heavy Snow in Alaska, December 3 to 4, 2001
- High Wind in Oregon, December 3 to 4, 2001
- High Wind in Alaska, December 3, 2001
- High Wind in Alaska, December 3, 2001
- Heavy Snow in Idaho, December 3 to 5, 2001
- Hail in Puerto Rico, December 3, 2001
- Heavy Snow in Nevada, December 3 to 4, 2001
More
Every storm in South Dakota in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in South Dakota, December 2001
Sources
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: 5275801.