Hail in South Dakota, August 12, 2010

Name: Hail in South Dakota, August 12, 2010
Start: 2010-08-12T19:54
End: 2010-08-12T19:54
Location: South Dakota

August 12, 2010 · NWS UNR · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A severe thunderstorm dropped quarter sized hail north of Sturgis.

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: 1

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 UNR wrote it up.

A severe thunderstorm dropped quarter sized hail north of Sturgis.

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 Rapid City, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 12, 1:00 PM MST, 6 hours 54 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 12, 1:00 PM MST, 6 hours 54 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR WESTERN SD AND NORTHEASTERN WY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
200 PM MDT THU AUG 12 2010

.DISCUSSION...CURRENT SURFACE ANALYSIS PLACES LOW CENTERED OF KPIR
WHILE FRONTAL BOUNDARY STRETCHES OFF TO THE SOUTHWEST. UPPER LEVEL
ANALYSIS PLACES TROF AXIS STRETCHING FROM CENTRAL MONTANA TO NEAR
THE IDAHO/WYOMING BORDER...WHILE BROAD RIDGE REMAINS OVER THE
MIDWEST KEEPING SOUTHWEST FLOW OVER OUR AREA. POTENT SHORT WAVE NOW
PUSHING WELL INTO WESTERN WYOMING.

FOR THIS AFTERNOON/TONIGHT...SCATTERED STORMS WILL DEVELOP AS
AFOREMENTIONED WAVE CONTINUES ITS APPROACH TO THE AREA. AREA WHERE
THERE COULD POTENTIALLY BE A FEW SEVERE STORMS WOULD BE OVER
NORTHWESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA WHERE THE STRONGEST DEEP LAYER SHEAR WILL
BE...THOUGH INSTABILITY IS NOT ALL THAT IMPRESSIVE...SO MOST STORMS
SHOULD REMAIN TAME.

FOR FRIDAY...SLIGHTLY COOLER TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED BEFORE A
SECONDARY COLD FRONT MAKES ITS WAY THROUGH THE AREA. THIS...COMBINED
WITH UNSETTLED SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT...WILL BRING A CHANCE FOR
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS.

ON SATURDAY...NOTABLY COOLER TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED AS COOLER AIR
CONTINUES TO PUSH INTO THE AREA. SOME SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL
REMAIN POSSIBLE WITH CYCLONIC FLOW ALOFT.

EXTENDED...EXTENDED MODELS SIMILAR IN DEVELOPING LARGE UPPER LOW
OVER EASTERN HALF OF CANADA FOR EARLY NEXT WEEK. WITH HIGH PRESSURE
ACROSS THE NORTHERN PLAINS...SHOULD BE DRY SUNDAY/MONDAY. WEAK
THETA-E ADVECTION ACROSS THE AREA MONDAY NIGHT...SO WILL LEAVE SMALL
POPS IN FORECAST. NORTHWEST FLOW WILL CONTINUE INTO MID-WEEK AND A
GRADUAL WARMING TREND. WITH LACK OF FORCING...WILL KEEP FORECAST
DRY.

&&

.AVIATION...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING WITH LCL MVFR CIGS/IFR VSBY. OTHERWISE VFR CONDITIONS
EXPECTED.

&&

.UNR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
SD...NONE.
WY...NONE.
&&

Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 12, 1:00 PM MST, 6 hours 54 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
200 PM MDT THU AUG 12 2010

SDZ001-002-012>014-024>032-041>044-046-047-049-072>074-WYZ054>058-
071-131300-
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-
200 PM MDT (300 PM CDT) THU AUG 12 2010

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA AND
NORTHEASTERN WYOMING.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED LATE THIS AFTERNOON
INTO TONIGHT. A FEW STORMS MAY HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BECOME SEVERE
WITH LARGE HAIL OR DAMAGING WIND GUSTS OVER NORTHWEST SOUTH
DAKOTA...BUT WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY

SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE FRIDAY AND SATURDAY AS
AN UNSETTLED WEATHER PATTERN CROSSES THE REGION. WIDESPREAD SEVERE
WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 12, 7:04 PM MST, 50 minutes before

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Local storm report, Aug 12, 7:05 PM MST, 49 minutes before

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Local storm report, Aug 12, 7:18 PM MST, 36 minutes before

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Local storm report, Aug 12, 7:20 PM MST, 34 minutes before

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Local storm report, Aug 12, 7:27 PM MST, 27 minutes before

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Local storm report, Aug 12, 7:46 PM MST, 8 minutes before

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The radar

The Rapid City radar (KUDX), 74 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:53 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Meade

When: August 12, 7:54 PM MST
Where: Meade County, 12.26 mi N of Sturgis
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: Trained Spotter
Coordinates: 44.597, -103.487

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in South Dakota in 2010 Every state in 2010 This day in weather history Warnings in South Dakota, August 2010

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: 248450.