Flash Flood and Hail in South Dakota, June 17, 2003

Name: Flash Flood and Hail in South Dakota, June 17, 2003
Start: 2003-06-17T10:45
End: 2003-06-17T13:00
Location: South Dakota

June 17, 2003 · NWS UNR · 2 events in 1 county or zone

A slow moving thunderstorm with heavy rain and large hail moved across southern Shannon County. 5 inches of rainfall at Pine Ridge Airport in less than 3 hours.

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: 2

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 slow moving thunderstorm with heavy rain and large hail moved across southern Shannon County. Rainfall amounts up to 4 inches were measured around the Pine Ridge area, including 3.5 inches of rainfall at Pine Ridge Airport in less than 3 hours. Law enforcement reported flash flooding at the Red Cloud School 4 miles north of Pine Ridge. Highway 18 north of Pine Ridge was closed for over an hour due to flooding. Cheyenne Creek, north of Pine Ridge, overflowed its banks. No damage was reported.

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 17, 9:00 AM MST, 1 hour 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 17, 9:00 AM MST, 1 hour 45 minutes before

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 17, 5:40 AM MST, 5 hours 5 minutes before

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

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

Hail, Oglala Lakota

When: June 17, 10:45 AM MST
Where: Oglala Lakota County, 9 mi N of Pine Ridge
Measured: 1.75 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 43.167, -102.567

Flash Flood, Oglala Lakota

When: June 17, 11:30 AM MST to 1:00 PM MST
Where: Oglala Lakota County, 4 mi N of Pine Ridge
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 43.336, -102.552 (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

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: 5364076, 5364077.