Several severe thunderstorms developed along a cold front across parts of central and northeast South Dakota. Large hail, some flash flooding, and a couple of weak tornadoes occurred with these storms.
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 ABR wrote it up.
Several severe thunderstorms developed along a cold front across parts of central and northeast South Dakota. Large hail, some flash flooding, and a couple of weak tornadoes occurred with these storms.
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 Aug 14, 10:25 AM CST, 4 hours 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD 1125 AM CDT THU AUG 14 2008 .UPDATE... NO MAJOR UPDATES MADE TO THE FORECAST THIS MORNING. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO TRACK ACROSS MAINLY THE EASTERN AND SOUTHERN CWA THIS AFTERNOON...WITH A LARGER AREA OF PRECIPITATION APPROACHING FROM THE WEST AND SET TO AFFECT THE AREA THIS EVENING AND OVERNIGHT. NO CHANGES MADE TO WINDS OR TEMPERATURES. NEW AVIATION DISCUSSION BELOW. && .PREV DISCUSSION... .SHORT TERM...TODAY THROUGH FRIDAY THERE ARE A COUPLE OF ISSUES TO CONTEND WITH IN THE NEAR TERM...MAINLY WITH REGARDS TO PCPN AND TEMPS. CURRENTLY HAVE A WEAK FRONTAL BOUNDARY WORKING ACROSS THE DAKOTAS WITH SOME LIGHT PCPN SHOWING UP ON RADAR. EXPECT THESE TO CONTINUE TO TRACK ACROSS THE CWA THIS MORNING. ANOTHER STRONGER WAVE IS ROUNDING THE BASE OF A CLOSED H5 CLOSED LOW IN MONTANA. EXPECT BETTER CHANCES FOR CONVECTION WITH THIS NEXT WAVE. THERE IS SOME CONCERN AS TO HOW FAR EASTWARD THIS SECOND WAVE WILL GO AS SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE IN MINNESOTA BEGINS TO FILTER DRIER AIR INTO OUR EASTERN COUNTIES. AS SUCH...HAVE A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS IN THAT AREA. TEMPERATURES TODAY WILL BE ON THE COOL SIDE WITH AN ABUNDANT AMOUNT OF CLOUDS AROUND AND PLENTY OF MOISTURE. THE CLOSED H5 LOW OVER SOUTHERN SASKATCHEWAN IS STILL EXPECTED TO DROP DUE SOUTH THROUGHOUT THE SHORT TERM. THIS COLD CORE LOW WILL LIKELY REMIND US THAT FALL IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER...ESPECIALLY IN THE WESTERN DAKOTAS WHERE HIGHS ARE EXPECTED TO REACH ONLY THE 70S. WITH LITTLE INSTABILITY AROUND LATE TONIGHT...MAINLY EXPECT SHOWERS WITH AN ISOLATED RUMBLE OF THUNDER. DRIER AIR CONTINUES TO WORK INTO THE EASTERN CWA...AND WILL EVENTUALLY OVERTAKE THE ENTIRE CWA ONCE THE UPPER LEVEL LOW DROPS INTO THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN PLAINS. HIGH PRESSURE TAKES HOLD FRIDAY NIGHT...BRINGING CLEARING SKIES AND COOL OVERNIGHT LOWS. TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN BELOW NORMAL THROUGHOUT THE SHORT TERM...AND HAVE LEANED CLOSER TO ADJMET FOR GUIDANCE. .LONG TERM...SATURDAY EVENING THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT MEDIUM RANGE MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT ON UPCOMING EXTENDED PERIOD. A RATHER QUIET TIME IS IN STORE WITH NO MENTION OF PRECIPITATION. BY THE BEGINNING OF THE PERIOD THE LARGE H5 UPPER LEVEL LOW THAT IS CAUSING CONCERN IN THE NEAR TERM HAS MOVED SOUTH INTO COLORADO. THE REFORMING H5 UPPER LEVEL RIDGE REBUILDS AND FOLDS OVER THE NORTHERN PLAINS. THE NET EFFECT FOR HERE IS A MODIFIED REX BLOCK WITH THIS AREA UNDER STRONG ANTI CYCLONIC CIRCULATION. AT THE SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS IN UNDER THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE. BY MONDAY APPROACHING PACIFIC LOW PRESSURE PUSHES A STRONG WAVE INTO THE BRITISH COLUMBIA COAST THAT WILL PUSH AN UPPER LEVEL WAVE THROUGH THE MIDWEST LATE MONDAY. THIS WILL ALSO PUSH THE UPPER LEVEL H5 LOW EAST FROM COLORADO INTO KANSAS. THROUGH THIS TIME PERIOD ALL PRECIPITATION ASSOCIATED WITH THIS LOW WILL FALL SOUTH OF THIS AREA LEAVING THE REGION IN A QUIET WEATHER TIME WITH TEMPERATURES RUNNING CLOSE TO SEASONAL NORMAL VALUES. && .AVIATION... SCATTERED SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DRIFT ACROSS THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON...MAINLY ACROSS THE EASTERN AND SOUTHERN CWA. KPIR AND KATY WILL BE THE MAIN SITES AFFECTED BY THE PRECIPITATION. CIGS WITH THE STORMS WILL FALL TO BETWEEN 5K AND 7K FEET...BUT WILL OTHERWISE REMAIN ABOVE 10K FEET. BRIEF MODERATE RAINFALL AND AN OCCASIONAL LIGHTNING STRIKE ARE POSSIBLE AS WELL. MORE SHOWERS ARE EXPECTED TO MOVE INTO THE AREA FROM THE WEST LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT...BUT CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN VFR. && .ABR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SD...NONE. MN...NONE. && UPDATE...PARKIN SHORT TERM...SD LONG TERM...KEEFE AVIATION...PARKIN WEATHER.GOV/ABERDEEN
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD 405 AM CDT THU AUG 14 2008 MNZ039-046-SDZ003>011-015>023-033>037-045-048-051-150915- TRAVERSE-BIG STONE-CORSON-CAMPBELL-MCPHERSON-BROWN-MARSHALL- ROBERTS-WALWORTH-EDMUNDS-DAY-DEWEY-POTTER-FAULK-SPINK-CLARK- CODINGTON-GRANT-HAMLIN-DEUEL-STANLEY-SULLY-HUGHES-HYDE-HAND-JONES- LYMAN-BUFFALO- 405 AM CDT THU AUG 14 2008 /305 AM MDT THU AUG 14 2008/ 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 A WEAK COLD FRONT WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA THIS MORNING...BRING A CHANCE FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. NONE OF THESE ARE EXPECTED TO BE STRONG OR SEVERE. A SECONDARY COLD FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON AND WILL BRING BETTER CHANCES FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. NONE OF THESE ARE EXPECTED TO BE STRONG OR SEVERE. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORM CHANCES CONTINUE THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY SHOWERS WITH ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE THROUGH FRIDAY EVENING FOR LOCATIONS ALONG AND WEST OF HIGHWAY 83. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TODAY OR TONIGHT. SD
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
1049 AM CDT THU AUG 14 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0500 PM FLASH FLOOD 10 ENE LEOLA 45.78N 98.75W
08/11/2008 MCPHERSON SD EMERGENCY MNGR
DELAYED REPORT OF FLASH FLOOD APPROXIMATELY 10 MILES E/NE
OF LEOLA. FLOODED BASEMENT AT PERSONAL RESIDENCE WITH
STANDING WATER 2 FEET DEEP.
&&
NWSABRThe Aberdeen radar (KABR), 7 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:34 UTC.
5 hail, 2 tornado, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A tornado touched down briefly at the Brown County fairgrounds, blowing over several tents and awnings.
A tornado touched down briefly in an open field causing no damage.
Heavy rains resulted in the flooding of several roads west of Hecla.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in South Dakota in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for South Dakota, 2008Warnings in South Dakota, August 2008
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: 133036, 133026, 133027, 133029, 133030, 133037, 133025, 133031.