Strong northwest winds developed behind a cold frontal passage. The strongest winds were in the Rapid City area, where sustained winds of 30 to 50 mph, with gusts to 65 mph, were witnessed during the late morning and early afternoon hours.
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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.
The episode as NWS UNR wrote it up.
Strong northwest winds developed behind a cold frontal passage. The strongest winds were in the Rapid City area, where sustained winds of 30 to 50 mph, with gusts to 65 mph, were witnessed during the late morning and early afternoon hours.
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 2, 2:00 AM MST, 6 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR WESTERN SD AND NORTHEASTERN WY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD 300 AM MDT TUE MAY 2 2006 .DISCUSSION..08Z SFC ANALYSIS SHOWS LOW PRESSURE CENTERED OVER NORTHEASTERN WYOMING WITH A TROUGH EXTENDING SOUTH INTO EASTERN COLORADO. COLD FRONT WAST LOCATED IN SOUTHEASTERN MONTANA. INSTABILITY ASSOCIATED WITH SFC FRONT AND UPPER TROUGH HAVE CREATED SOME SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IN SOUTHEASTERN MONTANA. THE UPPER LOW WILL CROSS MONTANA AND NORTH DAKOTA TODAY INTO TONIGHT. AS THE SYSTEM SHIFTS EAST...THE COLD FRONT WILL DROP INTO OUR FORECAST AREA. BEST DYNAMICS WILL REMAIN TO THE NORTH NEAR THE UPPER LOW...BUT WITH THE FRONT PASSING THROUGH AND 850-700MB LAPSE RATES INCREASING TO 8C-10C/KM THIS AFTERNOON WILL KEEP A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS MUCH OF THE AREA. VERY WINDY CONDITIONS EXPECTED BEHIND THE COLD FRONT OVER NORTHWESTERN AND WEST CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA TODAY WITH DECENT CAA AND INSTABILITY BEHIND THE FRONT TO HELP MIX MOMENTUM DOWN TO THE SURFACE. NAM SHOWING 30-35KT WINDS JUST ABOVE THE SFC SO HAVE ISSUED A WIND ADVISORY TODAY FOR THE USUAL WINDY AREAS OF NORTHWESTERN AND WEST CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA. A FEW SHOWERS MAY LINGER INTO THE EVENING OVER NORTHWESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA. FLOW REMAINS PRETTY MUCH ZONAL OVER THE AREA TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY FOR DRY WEATHER AND SLIGHTY COOLER THAN NORMAL TEMPERATURES. SHORTWAVES EMBEDDED IN THE FLOW WILL BRING A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS TO PORTIONS OF NORTHEASTERN WYOMING AND WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY. DRY WEATHER WITH NEAR NORMAL TEMPERATURES EXPECTED AGAIN ON FRIDAY. EXTENDED...SHORTWAVE RIDGE WILL CROSS THE AREA SATURDAY WITH DRY AND MILD CONDITIONS. RIDGE WILL SHIFT EAST SATURDAY NIGHT...ALLOWING AN UPPER LEVEL TROF AND WEAK COLD FRONT TO PASS THROUGH ON SUNDAY. WILL KEEP LOW POPS IN THE FORECAST FOR NORTHERN AND EASTERN PORTIONS OF CWA ON SUNDAY. ZONAL FLOW IS THEN EXPECTED INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK AS STRONG UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM BEGINS TO DIG SOUTH ACROSS THE WEST COAST. THIS FLOW SHOULD KEEP CONDITIONS GENERALLY DRY AND SEASONABLY MILD ON MONDAY. && .AVIATION...VFR CONDITIONS AT GCC AND RAP TODAY WITH COLD FRONT CROSSING THE AREA EARLY THIS MORNING. COLD FRONT PASSAGE AT GCC AROUND 11Z AND AT RAP AROUND 14Z. GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS WILL PERSIST BEHIND THE FRONT THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. ACROSS THE TWEB ROUTES... BETTER CHANCES FOR SHOWERS AND A FEW STORMS TODAY WILL BE OVER NORTHERN PORTIONS OF TWEB ROUTE 260. EXPECT SOME ISOLATED SHOWERS AND STORMS ACROSS THE REMAINDER OF ROUTE 285...AS WELL AS ROUTES 259 AND 315. && .UNR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SD...WIND ADVISORY TODAY FOR NORTHWESTERN AND WEST CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA. WY...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD 530 AM MDT TUE MAY 2 2006 SDZ001-002-012>014-024>032-041>044-046-047-049-072>074-WYZ054>058- 071-031300- BENNETT-BUTTE-CENTRAL BLACK HILLS-CUSTER CO PLAINS-FALL RIVER-HAAKON- HARDING-HERMOSA FOOT HILLS-JACKSON-MELLETTE-NORTHEASTERN CROOK- NORTHERN BLACK HILLS-NORTHERN CAMPBELL-NORTHERN FOOT HILLS- NORTHERN MEADE CO PLAINS-PENNINGTON CO PLAINS-PERKINS-RAPID CITY- SHANNON-SOUTHERN BLACK HILLS-SOUTHERN CAMPBELL-SOUTHERN FOOT HILLS- SOUTHERN MEADE CO PLAINS-STURGIS/PIEDMONT FOOT HILLS-TODD-TRIPP- WESTERN CROOK-WESTON-WYOMING BLACK HILLS-ZIEBACH- 530 AM MDT (630 AM CDT) TUE MAY 2 2006 ...WIND ADVISORY TODAY FOR NORTHWESTERN AND WEST CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA AND NORTHEASTERN WYOMING. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A COLD FRONT WILL CROSS THE REGION TODAY...BRINGING GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS. THE STRONGEST WINDS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS THE PLAINS OF NORTHWESTERN AND WEST CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA...WHERE SUSTAINED WINDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH...WITH GUSTS AROUND 45 MPH...ARE EXPECTED. A FEW THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE TODAY AND THIS EVENING. HOWEVER... SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in South Dakota in 2006Every state in 2006This day in weather historyWarnings in South Dakota, May 2006
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: 5509225, 5509226.