Name: High Wind in South Dakota, May 1, 2001
Start: 2001-05-01T02:56
End: 2001-05-01T06:00
Location: South Dakota

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 4 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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 4

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 potent short wave moved across the Montana/Wyoming border and into northwestern South Dakota after midnight. A line of thunderstorms developed as the wave moved across northeastern Wyoming and northwestern South Dakota. As the line of storms moved into northwestern South Dakota it encountered more stable and drier air. The thunderstorms quickly dissipated after producing a strong and persistent gust front. Behind the gust front a very tight pressure gradient was established. High winds in excess of 40 mph sustained with gusts to 64 mph were noted over the area. The high winds persisted for few hours before subsiding as the pressure gradient relaxed.

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 May 1, 1:45 AM MST, 1 hour 11 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 1, 1:45 AM MST, 1 hour 11 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR WESTERN SD AND NORTHEASTERN WY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
245 AM MDT TUE MAY 1 2001

IMMEDIATE PROBLEM SVR WX IN FAR WRN PTN OF THE CWA. WND SPD TREND IS
DOWN WITH SHR RECORDING 60 KTS...GCC RECORDING 52 KTS AND 2WX
RECORDING 48 KTS. FEEL CONVECTION IS WEAKENING AND WNDS DECREASING
AS CD POOL SPREADS OUT...NOT JUST AN ILLUSION OF THE RADAR HOLE.
WILL WORD -SHRA ENDING N EARLY. OTHERWISE...MDLS AGREE WITH PRETTY
GOOD WNDS TODAY BEHIND CD FNT. LLVL AGEO AND GEO WINDS OPPOSE EACH
OTHER...SO NOT CONCERNED ABOUT WARNING CRITERIA WNDS...BUT WILL GO
WITH ADVY ALONG AND N OF I90 IN SD TODAY. AFTER THAT...MAIN PROBLEM
WILL BE WK -SHRA IN RATHER CD UNSTABLE AIR. CAPES LOOK WK...BUT DEEP
ENOUGH TO SUPPORT -SHRA WITH AN ISOLATED --TSRA OVER THE BLK HLS
THIS AFTERNOON AND SOUTH WED AFTERNOON AND EVE. WILL GO GENERALLY
WITH GUIDANCE TEMPS AS THEY LOOK REASONABLE. AT 60 HRS ETA DOESN'T e
HAVE SW US LOW CLOSED...BUT WITHOUT AN UPSTREAM KICKER...WOULDN'T BE
SURPRISED IF AVN IS CORRECT IN CLOSING IT OFF...MEANING WEEKEND WILL
LIKELY BE WET AS THE WAVE MEANDERS INTO PLAINS.

.UNR...NONE.
BAILEY

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Harding

When: May 1, 2:56 AM MST to 3:56 AM MST
Where: Harding forecast zone
Measured: 62 kt (71 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 45.580, -103.496 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Northern Foot Hills

When: May 1, 3:10 AM MST
Where: Northern Foot Hills forecast zone
Measured: 64 kt (74 mph)
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 44.359, -103.792 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Meade Co. Plains

When: May 1, 4:30 AM MST to 5:55 AM MST
Where: Meade Co. Plains forecast zone
Measured: 59 kt (68 mph)
Reported by: METEOROLOGIST(NON NWS)
Coordinates: 44.567, -102.717 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Pennington Plains

When: May 1, 4:40 AM MST to 6:00 AM MST
Where: Pennington Plains forecast zone
Measured: 59 kt (68 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 44.004, -102.824 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

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

More

Every storm in South Dakota in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in South Dakota, May 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: 5246916, 5246919, 5246917, 5246918.