A powerful winter storm moved across the region, bringing heavy snow to the area. Snowfall amounts across the northern Black Hills were generally in the two to four foot range.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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.
A powerful winter storm moved across the region, bringing heavy snow to the area. Snowfall amounts across the northern Black Hills were generally in the two to four foot range. Lighter snow fell across the central and southern Black Hills, with amounts to eight inches. The plains of Fall River County received six to 12 inches of snow. Gusty winds produced blowing and drifting snow, reducing visibilities below a quarter mile at times.
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 Dec 25, 2:50 AM MST, 10 minutes earlier.
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</html>HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD 530 AM MST THU DEC 24 2009 SDZ001-002-012>014-024>032-041>044-046-047-049-072>074-WYZ054>058- 071-251400- 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 MST (630 AM CST) THU DEC 24 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA AND NORTHEASTERN WYOMING. ...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR THE BLACK HILLS AND BEAR LODGE MOUNTAINS THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING... ...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR SOUTH CENTRAL AND PARTS OF WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING... ...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR THE PLAINS OF FAR WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA FRIDAY MORNING THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING... ...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR THE PLAINS OF FAR WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT... ...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING FOR THE SOUTHERN BLACK HILLS AND FALL RIVER COUNTY... .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A PAIR OF LOW PRESSURE SYSTEMS WILL MERGE OVER THE CENTRAL PLAINS INTO THE MIDWEST BY LATE THIS EVENING. THERE WILL BE A BRIEF BREAK IN SNOWFALL EARLY TODAY...BUT SNOW WILL AGAIN INTENSIFY LATER TODAY INTO TONIGHT OVER WESTERN INTO SOUTH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA...ALONG WITH OVER THE WYOMING BLACK HILLS AND BEAR LODGE MOUNTAINS. GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS WILL BRING AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW REDUCING VISIBILITIES. ALSO...THE WIND WILL COMBINE WITH THE COLD TEMPERATURES TO BRING WIND CHILL VALUES OF 15 TO 35 BELOW ZERO. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS WILL INCREASE EARLY FRIDAY...BRINGING WIDESPREAD BLOWING SNOW OVER WESTERN AND SOUTH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA WITH VISIBILITIES OF ONE-QUARTER MILE OR LESS AT TIMES PRODUCING NEAR-BLIZZARD CONDITIONS. SNOW WILL ALSO CONTINUE TO FALL ACROSS THE AREA...WITH THE HEAVIEST SNOWS OVER THE BLACK HILLS AND SOUTH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA. CONDITIONS WILL IMPROVE BY MID-DAY SATURDAY AS THE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM STARTS TO MOVE OUT OF THE AREA...THOUGH SOME BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW MAY REMAIN INTO THE EVENING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in South Dakota in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in South Dakota, December 2009
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 206459, 206461, 206462.