Blizzard, Marshall
- When
- February 2, 8:00 PM CST to February 3, 10:00 AM CST
- Where
- Marshall forecast zone
- Reported by
- Emergency Manager
- Coordinates
- 45.759, -97.598 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Blizzard in South Dakota, February 2 to 3, 2011
Blizzard conditions developed along and east of the Sisseton Hills late on February 2nd and continued into the mid morning hours of February 3rd. Strong southwest winds of 30 to 40 mph gusting to around 55 mph picked up the existing snow cover causing blizzard conditions which wreaked havoc along Interstate-29.
Where it happened
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.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 3
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.
Blizzard conditions developed along and east of the Sisseton Hills late on February 2nd and continued into the mid morning hours of February 3rd. Strong southwest winds of 30 to 40 mph gusting to around 55 mph picked up the existing snow cover causing blizzard conditions which wreaked havoc along Interstate-29. Whiteout conditions and heavy drifting brought traffic to a halt along a stretch of Interstate-29 from north of Wilmot to Sisseton. One-hundred fifty to two-hundred vehicles were stranded along this stretch. A full scale rescue operation ensued during the night and continued into the next day. Interstate-29 was closed from Watertown to the North Dakota border as it took most of the day to clean up all of the stalled vehicles. There were also many accidents along the stretch of the interstate with many people stranded for up to twelve hours. There were also many other people stranded on secondary roads who had to be rescued. No injuries occurred as a result of this incident. The Roberts County Emergency Manager was stranded and conducted emergency operations from his vehicle. Interstate-29 was reopened by the evening of February 3rd.
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 Feb 2, 3:39 PM CST, 4 hours 21 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Feb 2, 3:39 PM CST, 4 hours 21 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD 339 PM CST WED FEB 2 2011 .SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT WARMER AIR IS SLOWLY WORKING INTO THE REGION AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO OVERNIGHT AND THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK. IN FACT...MOST LOCATIONS WILL EXPERIENCE STEADY OR RISING TEMPS LATER TONIGHT. TOUGH MIN TEMP FORECAST AS ITS HARD TO DETERMINE JUST HOW FAR TEMPS WILL FALL OFF EARLY THIS EVENING BEFORE THE TEMPS LEVEL OFF AND RISE. WINDS DO NOT REALLY GO THAT LIGHT AS PRESSURE GRADIENT KEEPS A SOUTHWEST BREEZE GOING. SPEAKING OF WINDS...925MB WINDS ARE FAIRLY IMPRESSIVE OVERNIGHT OVER THE NORTHEAST CWA. TYPICAL SETUP FOR THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS ACROSS THE EASTERN CWA TO TAP INTO SOME OF THESE STRONGER WINDS ALOFT. INSERTED PATCHY/AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW FOR PARTS OF THE EASTERN CWA WHERE WINDS WILL BE THE STRONGEST. LOTS OF LIGHT...FLUFFY SNOW TO BE BLOWN AROUND...WONT TAKE MUCH WIND TO DO THAT. WIND CHILLS WILL BE LOW ONCE AGAIN TONIGHT...FLIRTING OR JUST INTO CRITERIA. BUT...LOOKING AT APPARENT TEMP GRIDS AND ONLY HAVE ABOUT 4 HOURS OF LOW END CRITERIA FOR PORTIONS OF THE EASTERN CWA. DECIDED NOT TO ISSUE AN ADVISORY BASED ON THIS...BUT EVENING SHIFT WILL NEED TO MONITOR IN CASE IT TAKES LONGER FOR TEMPS TO RISE DURING THE TIME WINDS PICK UP. IF THIS IS THE CASE...WIND CHILLS MAY STAY IN THE 25 TO 30 BELOW RANGE A BIT LONGER. 925MB TEMPS RISE NICELY THURSDAY INTO FRIDAY...WITH DECENT MIXING AT THE SFC SO WE WILL BE ABLE TO TAP INTO SOME OF THIS WARMER AIR. 20S AND 30S ARE EXPECTED ON THURSDAY...WITH 30S COMMON FOR BASICALLY ALL THE CWA ON FRIDAY. KEPT IN THE CHANCE OF LIGHT SNOW ACROSS THE EASTERN CWA ON FRIDAY AS A CLIPPER SYSTEM DIVES SOUTHEAST OVER THE REGION. .LONG TERM...SATURDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY THE LATEST LONG RANGE MODELS MAINTAIN A MID LEVEL PATTERN FEATURING AN EAST PACIFIC RIDGE...AND DOWNSTREAM MID TO EASTERN CONUS TROFFING. THE NW FLOW WILL REMAIN RICH WITH CLIPPERS...BUT AS USUAL MODEL AGREEMENT ON THESE SMALLER SCALE FEATURES IS NOT GREAT TOWARD THE MIDDLE AND LATTER PART OF THE FORECAST. WE START OFF SOMEWHAT MILD FOR SATURDAY INTO SUNDAY AHEAD OF A CLIPPER...BUT THEN TURN COLDER AGAIN FOR LATE SUNDAY INTO THE FIRST OF NEXT WEEK AS MORE ARCTIC HIGH PRESSURE SLIDES SOUTH. THAT CLIPPER AND THE INTRUSION OF ARCTIC AIR MIGHT BRING SOME LIGHT SNOW SATURDAY THROUGH SUNDAY...BUT AT THIS POINT THE AMOUNTS LOOK TO BE LIGHT. FOR MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY WILL MAINTAIN A DRY FORECAST GIVEN SOMEWHAT LOW FORECASTER CONFIDENCE. && .AVIATION... TAFS FOR THE KABR...KATY...KPIR AND KMBG TERMINALS VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL THROUGH TONIGHT. && .ABR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SD...NONE. MN...NONE. && SHORT TERM...TMT LONG TERM...TDK AVIATION...TDK WEATHER.GOV/ABERDEEN
Hazardous weather outlook, Feb 2, 12:33 PM CST, 7 hours 27 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD 1233 PM CST WED FEB 2 2011 MNZ039-046-SDZ003>011-015>023-033>037-045-048-051-031845- 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- 1233 PM CST WED FEB 2 2011 /1133 AM MST WED FEB 2 2011/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA...CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA...NORTH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA AND NORTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT WIND CHILL VALUES WILL REMAIN IN THE 15 BELOW TO 30 BELOW ZERO RANGE THROUGH THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TODAY OR TONIGHT. TMT
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
3 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.
Blizzard, Roberts
- When
- February 2, 8:00 PM CST to February 3, 10:00 AM CST
- Where
- Roberts forecast zone
- Reported by
- Emergency Manager
- Coordinates
- 45.630, -96.946 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Blizzard, Grant
- When
- February 2, 8:00 PM CST to February 3, 10:00 AM CST
- Where
- Grant forecast zone
- Reported by
- Law Enforcement
- Coordinates
- 45.172, -96.768 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
What these are
- Blizzard
- Sustained winds or frequent gusts of 35 mph or more with falling or blowing snow that cuts visibility below a quarter mile for three hours or longer.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Extreme Cold and Frost and Freeze in Arizona, February 2 to 3, 2011
- Winter Weather in Minnesota, February 2, 2011
- Cold in Illinois, February 2 to 4, 2011
- Frost and Freeze in Texas, February 2 to 4, 2011
- Frost and Freeze in Arizona, February 2 to 4, 2011
- Frost and Freeze in Nevada, February 2 to 3, 2011
- Winter Storm in Vermont, February 2, 2011
- Winter Weather in Connecticut, February 2 to 4, 2011
- Winter Storm in New York, February 2, 2011
- High Wind in California, February 2 to 3, 2011
- Flood in Ohio, February 2, 2011
- Extreme Cold in New Mexico, February 2 to 3, 2011
More
Every storm in South Dakota in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in South Dakota, February 2011
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: 284167, 284168, 284169.