Two brief landspout tornadoes touched down in an open field southwest of Bowdle. The tornadoes were on the ground for a total of 1 to 2 minutes.
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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.
Two brief landspout tornadoes touched down in an open field southwest of Bowdle. The tornadoes were on the ground for a total of 1 to 2 minutes.
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 May 28, 9:17 AM CST, 45 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Aberdeen SD 1017 AM CDT SAT MAY 28 2016 .UPDATE... Issued at 1016 AM CDT SAT MAY 28 2016 Main area of rain has been confined to the southeast corner of the CWA this morning...so have adjusted pops and weather accordingly. No changes made to winds or temperatures at this time. && .SHORT TERM...(Today through Monday Afternoon) Issued at 357 AM CDT SAT MAY 28 2016 Surface low is currently near Sioux City, with wrap around rainfall moving northward through FSD CWA. Models continue to bring this rain into the southeast CWA later this morning, with additional shower and thunderstorm development through the day across portions of the remainder of the CWA. It would seem the best precip chances today will be across the southeast CWA where wrap around precip will be occurring. Elsewhere, more of a hit-and-miss type of scenario as convection will be more scattered in activity. With instability and shear lacking once again, the severe weather threat will be very low. Focus will then shift to Monday as strong shortwave energy digs southeast into MT. Breezy southeast winds will draw up low level moisture as a surface low develops across eastern MT and WY and moves into the western Dakotas. A plume of moderate instability develops across central SD during the afternoon with 0-6km bulk shear values around 40 to 45 knots. SPC's day 3 outlook already has the western CWA in a slight risk. Models indicating convective initiation across the western/central Dakotas Monday afternoon with activity pushing east through the evening. .LONG TERM...(Monday Evening through Friday) Issued at 357 AM CDT SAT MAY 28 2016 The mid level pattern will undergo a shift in the long term. Mid level ridging building along the west coast will help dig a decent looking trof southeast toward the Northern Plains early next week. A strong front will accompany that system and move across the region Tuesday night. Showers/storms are expected with that front. Behind the system more showery weather is expected for Tuesday and Wednesday but coverage will only be isolated to scattered at best. The rest of the work week looks dry. The front will also usher in a batch of cooler/drier air out of Canada. Therefore temperatures through much of the forecast time period will average out below normal. && .AVIATION...(For the 12Z TAFS through 12Z Sunday Morning) Issued at 613 AM CDT SAT MAY 28 2016 KATY will have ifr cigs this morning with some improvement this afternoon. KABR/KMBG/KPIR should remain mostly vfr through today. rain showers will likely spread into KATY but remain more isold/sct elsewhere today. && .ABR Watches/Warnings/Advisories... SD...NONE. MN...NONE. && UPDATE...Parkin SHORT TERM...TMT LONG TERM...TDK AVIATION...TDK
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD 423 AM CDT SAT MAY 28 2016 MNZ039-046-SDZ003>011-015>023-033>037-045-048-051-290930- 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- 423 AM CDT SAT MAY 28 2016 /323 AM MDT SAT MAY 28 2016/ 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 SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL ONCE AGAIN AFFECT THE REGION TODAY. THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT WILL BE LOW. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA MONDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING...WITH LARGE HAIL AND STRONG WINDS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. TMT
The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 99 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 16:03 UTC.
2 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
The first weak tornado touched down quickly in an open field southwest of Bowdle.
A second weak tornado touched down briefly in an open field.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in South Dakota in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for South Dakota, 2016Warnings in South Dakota, May 2016
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: 638780, 638781.