Name: Hail in South Dakota, August 26, 2002
Start: 2002-08-26T05:43
End: 2002-08-26T05:43
Location: South Dakota

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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: 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 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 Aug 26, 2:15 AM MST, 3 hours 28 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 26, 2:15 AM MST, 3 hours 28 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR WESTERN SD AND NORTHEASTERN WY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
315 AM MDT MON AUG 26 2002

WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWS UPPER LOW OVER NE MONTANA THIS MORNING
WITH TROUGH DEVELOPING TO OUR WEST TODAY AS NEXT SHORTWAVE MOVES
ASHORE AND SYNCS UP WITH THE UPPER LOW. THIS COMBINATION SWINGS A
VORT MAX ACROSS OUR CWA THIS AFTERNOON. AS THE SURFACE...ANALYSIS
PLACES SFC LOW CENTER OVER SE WYOMING WITH INVERTED TROUGH EXTENDING
NORTHEASTWARD INTO SE ND. THIS WILL BECOME THE FOCUS FOR
THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT THIS AFTERNOON AS LOW LEVEL MOISTURE
INCREASES SE OF THE TROUGH AND CAPE RISES TO 2000 TO 3000 J/KG. HIGH
TEMPERATURES ARE FORECAST TO BE AROUND 5F WARMER THAN THE CONVECTIVE
TEMPS...BREAKING THE WEAK CAP BY LATE AFTERNOON. WEAK LL JET WILL
CONTINUE TO FEED MOISTURE INTO THE STORMS OVERNIGHT...WITH BOTH AVN
AND ETA POINTING TO MCS DEVELOPING THEN HEADING SLOWLY SE TONIGHT.
ETA INDICATES STORMS DEVELOPING OVER SW AND CENT WYOMING WILL MOVE
INTO NE WYOMING AFTER MIDNIGHT.

AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH TO OUR WEST WILL REMAIN THE DOMINANT WEATHER
FEATURE THROUGH MOST OF THE WEEK. SHORTWAVES WILL CONTINUE TO ROTATE
ACROSS OUR CWA IN UNSTABEL SOUTHWEST FLOW...WITH LARGE DIFFERENCES
ON THE TIMING BETWEEN THE MODELS. THIS WARRANTS KEEPING LOW POPS IN
THE FORECAST...WITH TEMPS REMAINING NEAR NORMAL...DEPENDING MAINLY
ON CLOUD COVER. EXTENDED CONTINUES THIS TREND SO HAVE MADE NO
CHANGES THERE.

.UNR...NONE
GR

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 26, 12:30 AM MST, 5 hours 13 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
130 AM MDT MON AUG 26 2002

TIME(MDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0125 AM    WHITE RIVER               SD   1.25 INCH HAIL
08/26/02   MELLETTE

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Bennett

When: August 26, 5:43 AM MST
Where: Bennett County, 3 mi SW of Allen
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 43.250, -101.983

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in South Dakota in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in South Dakota, August 2002

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: 5310810.