Flooding in South Dakota, May 1 to 31, 2007

Name: Flooding in South Dakota, May 1 to 31, 2007
Start: 2007-05-01T00:00
End: 2007-05-31T23:59
Location: South Dakota

May 1 to 31, 2007 · NWS ABR · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

Very heavy rains of up 10 inches fell in the James River Basin in early May. This resulted in minor to moderate flooding on the James River in Brown and Spink counties throughout May.

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

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 ABR wrote it up.

Very heavy rains of up 10 inches fell in the James River Basin in early May. This resulted in minor to moderate flooding on the James River in Brown and Spink counties throughout May. The James River at Columbia had been flooding in late April and continued throughout May.

The James River at Columbia rose to 16.8 feet on May 7th, 3.8 feet above flood stage. Southwest of Stratford, the river rose to 17.7 feet on May 12th, 3.7 feet above flood stage. Near Ashton, the James rose to 17.3 feet on May 14th, 4.3 feet above flood stage. The James River flooded many acres of agricultural land along with a several roads.

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 Aberdeen, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 30, 8:11 PM CST, 3 hours 49 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 30, 8:11 PM CST, 3 hours 49 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
911 PM CDT MON APR 30 2007

.UPDATE...
SURFACE FRONT HAS PUSHED THROUGH NEARLY ALL CWA WITH NORTHERLY SFC
WINDS. WINDS HAVE ALSO PICKED UP SLIGHTLY IMMEDIATELY BEHIND
FRONT...BUT EXPECT THEM TO FALL OFF BY 06Z. DWPTS ARE FALLING OFF
A BIT FASTER THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT...SO HAVE TWEAKED THEM A BIT.
FEW HIGH CLOUDS STILL DOT THE SKY...BUT WITH HIGH BUILDING IN
EXPECT NEARLY CLEAR SKIES OVERNIGHT. GRIDS HAVE BEEN CLEANED
UP...BUT NO NEED TO REISSUE NEW ZONE SET.

&&
.PREV DISCUSSION...
.SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT
THE LINE OF SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS HAS FINALLY PUSHES
TO THE SOUTH AND EAST OF THE ABR CWA. ONLY SOME HIGH CLOUDS REMAIN
ACROSS NORTHERN SOUTH DAKOTA INTO EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA. THESE
CLOUDS SHOULD GRADUALLY CLEAR OFF BY MID TO LATE EVENING ACROSS
THE CWA...AS HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS INTO THE REGION FROM THE
NORTHWEST. UPPER RIDGING WILL BUILD OVER THE NORTHERN PLAINS
TUESDAY INTO WEDNESDAY...WITH THE AREA OF SFC HIGH PRESSURE
DOMINATING THE REGION. CAA WILL AFFECT THE REGION TONIGHT INTO
TUESDAY...WITH H85 TEMPERATURES DROPPING FROM THE TEENS CELSIUS TO
AROUND +5C BY 18Z TUESDAY. WITH LIGHTER WINDS EXPECTED
TUESDAY...LITTLE MIXING...AND COOLER AIR IN PLACE EXPECT MOST
SITES TO ONLY REACH THE 60S TO LOWER 70S THROUGHOUT THE CWA.
OTHERWISE AS RETURN FLOW SETS UP INTO WEDNESDAY...SHOULD SEE A
REBOUND BACK TO THE 70S ACROSS MUCH OF THE AREA. SOUTHWEST FLOW
ALOFT DEVELOPS ALONG THE WESTERN HIGH PLAINS AND OVER THE FRONT
RANGE OF THE ROCKIES INTO WEDNESDAY...WITH AN AREA OF SFC LOW
PRESSURE ACROSS EASTERN MONTANA/WYOMING. LLJ KICKS IN WEDNESDAY
NIGHT...BUT WITH ANTICYCLONIC FLOW OVER MUCH OF THE ABR AREA...AND
LLJ ORIENTED MORE TO THE WEST EXPECT ANY -TRW THREAT TO REMAIN TO
THE WEST OF THE CWA. THEREFORE WILL CONTINUE WITH DRY CONDITIONS
THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE FORECAST PERIOD.

.LONG TERM...THURSDAY THROUGH MONDAY
MODELS ARE SEEMINGLY COMING INTO BETTER AGREEMENT WITH EVOLUTION
OF MID LEVEL LONG WAVE PATTERN AS WE HEAD TOWARD THE WEEKEND.
TROF MOVES INTO THE WESTERN CONUS EARLY WITH ONE CHUNK OF ENERGY
HEADED NORTH/NORTHEAST INTO CANADA...WHILE ANOTHER DROPS INTO THE
SOUTHWEST CONUS AND FORMS A CLOSED/CUTOFF LOW. MEANWHILE SURFACE
BOUNDARY GRADUALLY EDGES EAST INTO THE FORECAST AREA FROM THE
WEST. PCPN TIMING BECOMES A MAJOR ISSUE AS THE GFS IS STILL TOO
MUCH AFFECTED BY LATENT HEAT FEEDBACK AND DEVELOPS SPURIOUS VORTS.
NONETHELESS...HAVE DECIDED TO TREND POPS TOWARD HIGHEST AT NIGHT
AND LOWEST DURING THE DAY TO MATCH NORMAL DIURNAL TRENDS. SURFACE
FRONT MAY NOT MAKE IT OUT OF THE EASTERN CWA UNTIL EARLY NEXT
WEEK. TEMPERATURES PRETTY MUCH FOLLOWED HPC GUIDANCE WITH ONLY
MINOR TWEAKS NEEDED.

&&
.AVIATION...
HIGH CLOUDS WILL CONT ACROSS ERN SD THROUGH 06Z BEFORE CLEARING
OUT. OTHERWISE NO OTHER WEATHER CONCERNS FOR AVIATION COMMUNITY
THROUGH 00Z AND VFR CONDS EXPECTED.

&&
.ABR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
SD...NONE.
MN...NONE.
&&

UPDATE...HINTZ
SHORT TERM...ALBRECHT
LONG TERM...TDK
AVIATION...HINTZ

Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 30, 7:29 AM CST, 16 hours 31 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
829 AM CDT MON APR 30 2007

MNZ039-046-SDZ003-006>008-011-015-018>023-033-045-048-011330-
TRAVERSE-BIG STONE-CORSON-BROWN-MARSHALL-ROBERTS-DAY-DEWEY-SPINK-
CLARK-CODINGTON-GRANT-HAMLIN-DEUEL-STANLEY-JONES-LYMAN-
829 AM CDT MON APR 30 2007 /729 AM MDT MON APR 30 2007/

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF WEST CENTRAL
MINNESOTA...CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA...NORTH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA AND
NORTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THROUGH EARLY AFTERNOON. THE
MAIN THREAT WOULD BE LIGHTNING.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY

THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TODAY OR TONIGHT.

SDZ004-005-009-010-016-017-034>037-051-011330-
CAMPBELL-MCPHERSON-WALWORTH-EDMUNDS-POTTER-FAULK-SULLY-HUGHES-
HYDE-HAND-BUFFALO-
829 AM CDT MON APR 30 2007

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL SOUTH
DAKOTA AND NORTH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS...WARM TEMPERATURES AND LOW RELATIVE
HUMIDITIES WILL CREATE A VERY HIGH FIRE DANGER TODAY ACROSS AREAS
BETWEEN THE JAMES AND MISSOURI RIVER VALLEYS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY

THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TODAY OR TONIGHT.

TDK

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Brown

When: May 1, 12:00 AM CST to May 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Brown County, 1 mi S of Columbia to 7 mi SW of Stratford
Cause: Heavy Rain
Reported by: Other Federal Agency
Coordinates: 45.605, -98.320

Flood, Spink

When: May 2, 6:00 AM CST to May 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Spink County, 1 mi E of Ashton
Cause: Heavy Rain
Reported by: Other Federal Agency
Coordinates: 45.000, -98.480

What these are

Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in South Dakota in 2007 Every state in 2007 This day in weather history Warnings in South Dakota, May 2007

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: 36719, 36720.