Name: Flash Flood and Hail in South Dakota, June 13 to 14, 2003
Start: 2003-06-13T12:30
End: 2003-06-14T03:00
Location: South Dakota

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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 7

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.

Slow moving thunderstorms moved southward across central Custer County and into Fall River County, producing heavy rain and hail to the size of quarters. Two to four inches of rain fell southwest of Oelrichs and caused the tributaries of Black Banks Creek to overflow their banks. County roads 4 and 5 west of Oelrichs were closed overnight. No property damage resulted.

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 Jun 13, 9:00 AM MST, 3 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 13, 9:00 AM MST, 3 hours 30 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 13, 5:37 AM MST, 6 hours 53 minutes before

SDZ001-002-012>014-024>032-041>044-046-047-049-072>074-WYZ054>058-
071-141300-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
637 AM MDT FRI JUN 13 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA AND
NORTHEASTERN WYOMING.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE THIS MORNING FROM
NORTHEASTERN WYOMING INTO SOUTHWESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA. AS THE
ATMOSPHERE BECOMES MORE UNSTABLE THIS AFTERNOON...SOME THUNDERSTORMS
WILL DEVELOP FROM NORTHEASTERN WYOMING THROUGH SOUTHWESTERN AND
SOUTH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA. THESE STORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BECOME
SEVERE...BUT SOME MAY PRODUCE SMALL HAIL AND GUSTY WINDS.  SOME
OF THE STORMS THAT DEVELOP MAY PRODUCE LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN...
ESPECIALLY OVER THE BLACK HILLS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY

MAINLY AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE THROUGH
THE WEEKEND AND INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK...ESPECIALLY OVER THE HIGHER
TERRAIN OF NORTHEASTERN WYOMING AND FAR WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ASSISTANCE MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING ACROSS
NORTHEASTERN WYOMING...AND IN AND AROUND THE BLACK HILLS.

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

6 hail, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Custer

When: June 13, 12:30 PM MST
Where: Custer County, 3 mi SW of Custer
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 43.733, -103.650

Hail, Custer

When: June 13, 1:30 PM MST
Where: Custer County, 6 mi SW of Custer
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 43.700, -103.683

Hail, Custer

When: June 13, 2:55 PM MST
Where: Custer County, 5 mi S of Pringle
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 43.533, -103.600

Hail, Custer

When: June 13, 3:20 PM MST
Where: Custer County, 4 mi SE of Argyle
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 43.500, -103.600

Hail, Fall River

When: June 13, 3:30 PM MST
Where: Fall River County, 6 mi NW of Hot Spgs
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 43.500, -103.567

Hail, Fall River

When: June 13, 4:50 PM MST
Where: Fall River County, 6 mi NE of Oelrichs
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 43.267, -103.067

Flash Flood, Fall River

When: June 13, 6:20 PM MST to June 14, 3:00 AM MST
Where: Fall River County, 7 mi SW of Oelrichs
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 43.239, -103.528 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in South Dakota in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in South Dakota, June 2003

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: 5363954, 5363955, 5363956, 5363957, 5363958, 5363959, 5363960.