Cold/Wind Chill, Brown
- When
- March 8, 12:00 AM CST to 9:00 AM CST
- Where
- Brown forecast zone
- Deaths
- 1 direct, 0 indirect
- Reported by
- Newspaper
- Coordinates
- 45.590, -98.352 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Cold in South Dakota, March 8, 2011
A 97-year old Aberdeen woman died from exposure to the cold when she went outside her apartment patio and the door locked behind her. The woman was believed to be outside for 8 to 10 hours.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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
- 1
- 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 ABR wrote it up.
A 97-year old Aberdeen woman died from exposure to the cold when she went outside her apartment patio and the door locked behind her. The woman was believed to be outside for 8 to 10 hours. The overnight low was 2 degrees above zero. The winds averaged around 10 mph through the night giving a wind chill of around 10 below zero. Also, nearly an inch of snow occurred through the night.
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 Mar 7, 7:40 PM CST, 4 hours 20 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Mar 7, 7:40 PM CST, 4 hours 20 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD 740 PM CST MON MAR 7 2011 .UPDATE... MADE A FEW MINOR CHANGES TO THE FORECAST THIS EVENING...MAINLY TO LOWER TEMPERATURES IN THE NE CWA. WHILE HIGH CLOUDS ARE SPREADING ACROSS THE REGION...THERE WAS ENOUGH CLEAR SKIES IN THE NE CWA TO ALLOW TEMPERATURES TO REACH THEIR PREVIOUS FORECAST LOW. HAVE ALSO INCREASED POPS IN THE WESTERN CWA WHERE RADAR RETURNS CONTINUE TO SHOW LIGHT SNOW. && .PREV DISCUSSION... .SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT LATEST NUMERICAL MODEL GUIDANCE SUGGESTING SLIGHTLY STRONGER UPGLIDE/WAA FOR LATE TONIGHT AND TUESDAY. UPPER LEVEL FLOW IS CURRENTLY SPLITTING IN TWO SEPARATE ENTITIES OVER THE GREAT BASIN. THE MAIN JET AND ASSOCIATED ATMOSPHERIC LIFT/UVV HEAD SOUTHWARD INTO AZ/NM WITH A SECOND...WEAKER...UPPER LEVEL WIND MAX MOVING THROUGH THE NORTHERN PLAINS. 12Z GFS INDICATING 15KT SOUTHERLY WINDS IN AND NEAR THE 285K PRESSURE SURFACE WITH 2.5-2.75G/KG OF MOISTURE TO WORK WITH. BEST CHANCES OF ACCUMULATING SNOW WILL OCCUR DURING THE DAY TUESDAY WHEN UPGLIDE...RIGHT REAR JET QUAD LIFT FROM THE ABOVE MENTIONED SECONDARY JET STREAK/WIND MAX...AND SURFACE CONVERGENCE ARE STRONGEST. INCREASED SNOW CHANCES FOR MOST AREAS TO CATEGORICAL...WHILE INCREASING SNOW ACCUMULATIONS BY ABOUT AN INCH TO AN INCH AND A HALF FOR MOST LOCATIONS...INTO THE 2 TO 3 INCH RANGE..WITH LOCALLY UP TO 4 INCHES POSSIBLE. SNOW INTENSITY IS EXPECTED TO BE LIGHT TO MODERATE OVER AN 18-24HR PERIOD...SO WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY LIKELY NOT NECESSARY GIVEN THE LONG DURATION. GFS AND ECMWF CONTINUE THE LIGHT SNOW...MAINLY EAST OF THE JAMES RIVER...THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT. KEPT SNOW IN THE FORECAST FOR THIS AREA THROUGH EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING AS A RESULT. RELATIVELY WEAK SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS INTO THE PLAINS STATES WEDNESDAY MORNING. WEAK WAA IS PROGGED BY ALL MODELS LATE-DAY WEDNESDAY...WITH THE MOST WARMING AT THE SURFACE BECOMING REALIZED WEST RIVER. .LONG TERM...THURSDAY THROUGH MONDAY LONGWAVE PATTERN GRADUALLY SHIFTS TO LOWER AMPLITUDE FLOW...WITH A PAIR OF DISTURBANCES CROSSING THE REGION AND HAVING AN IMPACT ON TEMPERATURES/PRECIPITATION CHANCES. WILL BEGIN INITIALLY DRY...WITH HIGH PRESSURE SHIFTING EAST AND H85 WARM ADVECTION PUSHING TEMPERATURES TO +4 TO +8C. NEAR SURFACE FLOW IS SOUTHERLY...NOT THE MOST IDEAL DIRECTION FOR MIXING. WARM ADVECTION REGIME CONTINUES INTO THURSDAY NIGHT AS LOW PROGRESSES OVERHEAD. LOW POP CHANCES WITH LIMITED FORCING/MOISTURE...HOWEVER STRONG GRADIENT KEEPS TEMPERATURES MILD OVERNIGHT. COLD FRONT MOVES THROUGH FRIDAY...WITH H85 WINDS IN EXCESS OF 50KTS. COLD ADVECTION IS SHORT LIVED...WITH WARM ADVECTION BEING REESTABLISHED SUNDAY. THE GRADUAL WARM UP CONTINUES INTO THE START OF NEXT WEEK AS UPPER FLOW DIRECTS MODIFIED PACIFIC AIR INTO THE REGION. && .AVIATION... 0Z TAFS FOR THE KABR...KATY...KPIR AND KMBG TERMINALS PREVAILING MVFR CONDITIONS THIS EVENING ARE EXPECTED TO BECOME IFR DURING THE OVERNIGHT HOURS AS LIGHT SNOW SPREADS ACROSS THE REGION. DUE TO DRY AIR...KABR WILL BE THE LAST TAF SITE TO SEE MVFR/IFR CONDITIONS WITH LIGHT SNOW. THE MVFR/IFR CONDITIONS WILL LIKELY CONTINUE FOR ALL TAF SITES THROUGH THE DAY ON TUESDAY. && .ABR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SD...NONE. MN...NONE. && UPDATE...SD SHORT TERM...CHURCH LONG TERM...CONNELLY AVIATION...SD WEATHER.GOV/ABERDEEN
Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 7, 4:39 PM CST, 7 hours 21 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...CORRECTED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD 439 PM CST MON MAR 7 2011 MNZ039-046-SDZ003>011-015>023-033>037-045-048-051-082245- 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- 439 PM CST MON MAR 7 2011 /339 PM MST MON MAR 7 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 LIGHT SNOW WILL GRADUALLY SPREAD FROM WEST TO EAST LATE TONIGHT WITH TRACE TO HALF INCH AMOUNTS ANTICIPATED BY SUNRISE TUESDAY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY 2 TO 4 INCHES OF NEW SNOW ACCUMULATION BETWEEN TUESDAY MORNING AND EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING ARE EXPECTED AREA-WIDE. A STRONG AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WILL MOVE SOUTHEAST THROUGH THE REGION ON FRIDAY...AND IS EXPECTED TO BE BRING STRONG WINDS AND POSSIBLY SOME FALLING AND BLOWING SNOW. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TODAY OR TONIGHT.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.
The people who died
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cold/Wind Chill, Brown | 2011-03-08 | 97 | Female | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
What these are
- Cold/Wind Chill
- Cold or wind chill below warning criteria that caused deaths, injuries or damage.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Mississippi, March 8 to 10, 2011
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Louisiana, March 8 to 9, 2011
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Alabama, March 8 to 9, 2011
- Heat in Texas, March 8, 2011
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Louisiana, March 8 to 9, 2011
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Louisiana, March 8 to 9, 2011
- Tornado and Hail in Texas, March 8, 2011
- Damaging Winds in Alabama, March 8 to 9, 2011
- Tornado and Hail in Texas, March 8, 2011
- Strong Wind in Tennessee, March 8, 2011
- Drought in Texas, March 8 to 31, 2011
- Drought in Oklahoma, March 8 to 31, 2011
More
Every storm in South Dakota in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in South Dakota, March 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: 293377.