Severe storms moved across the central Black Hills and produced very large hail, especially in the Hill City area.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
Severe storms moved across the central Black Hills and produced very large hail, especially in the Hill City area.
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 Jul 18, 9:30 AM MST, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR WESTERN SD AND NORTHEASTERN WY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD 1030 AM MDT WED JUL 18 2007 .DISCUSSION...16Z ANALYSIS HAS A BROAD AREA OF LOW PRESSURE ACROSS NEBRASKA WITH WEAK INVERTED TROUGH ACROSS NORTHEASTERN WYOMING INTO CENTRAL MONTANA. HIGH PRESSURE OVER NORTH DAKOTA IS NOSING DOWN INTO THE AREA...PUSHING A WEAK FRONTAL BOUNDARY SOUTH AND WEST OF THE BLACK HILLS AT THE MOMENT. WINDS HAVE BECOME MORE NORTHEASTERLY AS THE HIGH SETTLES OVER THE NORTHERN PLAINS. SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS STILL LINGER ACROSS CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA...AND ARE SLOWLY MOVING TO THE EAST. WATER VAPOR IMAGERY REVEALS MONSOONAL MOISTURE BEING PULLED INTO THE AREA AHEAD OF WEAK SHORTWAVE ACROSS CENTRAL WYOMING. WITH 3 KEY INGREDIENTS AVAILABLE...SHOULD SEE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS RE-DEVELOP AROUND NOON ACROSS THE BLACK HILLS AREA...AND PROGRESS EASTWARD THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. PLENTY OF SHEAR AND CAPE AVAILABLE TO SEE SOME SEVERE STORMS ACROSS THE AREA. WITH MONSOONAL MOISTURE AVAILABLE...COULD SEE SOME VERY HEAVY RAINS ALSO. WITH HIGH PRESSURE NOSING IN FROM THE NORTH...NORTHEAST SURFACE WINDS...AND HIGH DEWPOINTS...HAVE SHAVED A FEW DEGREES OF THE HIGH TEMPERATURES TODAY. ALSO MADE SOME MINOR ADJUSTMENTS TO WINDS AND CLOUD COVER. UPDATES ARE OUT. && .AVIATION...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP EARLY THIS AFTERNOON AND INCREASE IN COVERAGE ACROSS THE AREA THROUGHOUT THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM WEST TO EAST. && .UNR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SD...NONE. WY...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD 835 AM MDT WED JUL 18 2007 SDZ001-002-012>014-024>032-041>044-046-047-049-072>074-WYZ054>058- 071-191300- 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- 835 AM MDT (935 AM CDT) WED JUL 18 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA AND NORTHEASTERN WYOMING. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS NORTHEASTERN WYOMING AND WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND GUSTS POSSIBLE. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL IS ALSO LIKELY AS STORMS WILL BE SLOW MOVING. AN UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA TODAY. VERY MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR WILL ALLOW FOR WIDESPREAD THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT THIS AFTERNOON...WITH THE FIRST STORMS FORMING OVER THE BLACK HILLS AROUND MIDDAY. THE AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD MOVE INTO SOUTHERN SECTIONS OF SOUTH DAKOTA LATER THIS EVENING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY HOT WEATHER WILL RETURN AS UPPER LEVEL HIGH PRESSURE REMAINS ANCHORED OVER THE ROCKIES. MOST LOCATIONS OUTSIDE OF THE BLACK HILLS WILL SURPASS THE 100 DEGREE MARK SATURDAY THROUGH MONDAY. IT WILL BE MAINLY DRY...WITH ONLY A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS AT TIMES. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED TODAY. MJB
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
912 AM MDT WED JUL 18 2007
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1015 PM HAIL 11 S OKREEK 43.21N 100.38W
07/17/2007 E0.88 INCH TODD SD PUBLIC
NICKEL SIZE HAIL WITH 60 MPH WIND.
&&
WETENKAMPPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
931 AM MDT WED JUL 18 2007
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1015 PM TSTM WND GST 11 S OKREEK 43.21N 100.38W
07/17/2007 E60 MPH TODD SD PUBLIC
&&
WETENKAMPPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
1011 AM MDT WED JUL 18 2007
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1015 PM TSTM WND GST 8 SSE OKREEK 43.26N 100.32W
07/17/2007 E60 MPH TODD SD PUBLIC
&&
WETENKAMPThe Rapid City radar (KUDX), 74 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:00 UTC.
4 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Hail to the size of golf balls fell for nearly an hour and covered the ground several inches deep.
Baseball sized hail broke building windows and automobile windshields in Hill City. The hail accumulated six to eight inches deep.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in South Dakota in 2007Every state in 2007This day in weather historyWarnings in South Dakota, July 2007
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: 35410, 35412, 35413, 35415.