High Wind, Butte
- When
- October 31, 4:15 AM MST to 5:15 AM MST
- Where
- Butte forecast zone
- Measured
- 53 kt (61 mph) measured gust
- Reported by
- Mesonet
- Coordinates
- 44.906, -103.508 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
High Wind in South Dakota, October 31, 2016
A passing cold front brought strong winds to portions of western South Dakota. Ahead of the front, southwest winds gusted around 60 mph in the Spearfish and Belle Fourche areas.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 6 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
- 6
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 passing cold front brought strong winds to portions of western South Dakota. Ahead of the front, southwest winds gusted around 60 mph in the Spearfish and Belle Fourche areas. Behind the front, strong northwest winds developed across much of far northwestern South Dakota.
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 Oct 31, 2:11 AM MST, 2 hours 4 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Oct 31, 2:11 AM MST, 2 hours 4 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Service Notice</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
<main class="wrap">
<section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
<div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
<h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
<p id="message1">
The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
</p>
<p id="message2">
Please try again in a few minutes.
</p>
<p class="small" id="detail">
If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
</p>
</section>
</main>
<script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>Hazardous weather outlook, Oct 30, 4:43 AM MST, 23 hours 32 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD 543 AM MDT SUN OCT 30 2016 SDZ024-028-029-WYZ054>058-071-311300- NORTHERN BLACK HILLS-CENTRAL BLACK HILLS-SOUTHERN BLACK HILLS- NORTHERN CAMPBELL-SOUTHERN CAMPBELL-WESTERN CROOK- WYOMING BLACK HILLS-WESTON-NORTHEASTERN CROOK- 543 AM MDT SUN OCT 30 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF THE BLACK HILLS OF SOUTH DAKOTA...NORTHEAST WYOMING...AND THE BLACK HILLS OF WYOMING. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY. && STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR FURTHER DETAILS OR UPDATES... OR CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT WEATHER.GOV/RAPIDCITY SDZ025>027-030-031-041>044-046-047-049-072-074-311300- NORTHERN FOOT HILLS-RAPID CITY-SOUTHERN FOOT HILLS- CUSTER CO PLAINS-PENNINGTON CO PLAINS-FALL RIVER-OGLALA LAKOTA- JACKSON-BENNETT-MELLETTE-TODD-TRIPP-STURGIS/PIEDMONT FOOT HILLS- HERMOSA FOOT HILLS- 543 AM MDT SUN OCT 30 2016 /643 AM CDT SUN OCT 30 2016/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA...AND WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY A FIRE WEATHER WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR MONDAY AFTERNOON. A PASSING COLD FRONT WILL BRING GUSTY WEST TO NORTHWEST WINDS TO MUCH OF THE SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA PLAINS ON MONDAY. WIND GUSTS OF 45 MPH OR MORE ARE POSSIBLE. THE COMBINATION OF GUSTY WINDS AND LOW HUMIDITIES ACROSS SOUTHERN SOUTH DAKOTA COULD PRODUCE CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS MONDAY AFTERNOON. THE GRASSLAND FIRE DANGER IS FORECAST TO BE IN THE EXTREME CATEGORY MONDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY. && STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR FURTHER DETAILS OR UPDATES... OR CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT WEATHER.GOV/RAPIDCITY SDZ012>014-032-073-311300- BUTTE-NORTHERN MEADE CO PLAINS-ZIEBACH-HAAKON- SOUTHERN MEADE CO PLAINS- 543 AM MDT SUN OCT 30 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY A PASSING COLD FRONT WILL BRING GUSTY WEST TO NORTHWEST WINDS TO MUCH OF THE WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST SOUTH DAKOTA PLAINS ON MONDAY. WIND GUSTS OF 45 MPH OR MORE ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE AREA LATE MONDAY MORNING AND AFTERNOON. THE GRASSLAND FIRE DANGER IS FORECAST TO BE IN THE EXTREME CATEGORY MONDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY. && STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR FURTHER DETAILS OR UPDATES... OR CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT WEATHER.GOV/RAPIDCITY SDZ001-002-311300- HARDING-PERKINS- 543 AM MDT SUN OCT 30 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY A HIGH WIND WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR LATE MONDAY MORNING AND AFTERNOON. A PASSING COLD FRONT WILL BRING STRONG WEST WINDS TO FAR NORTHWEST SOUTH DAKOTA ON MONDAY. WESTERLY WINDS OF 30 TO 45 MPH...WITH SOME GUSTS TO AROUND 60 MPH...ARE POSSIBLE LATE MONDAY MORNING AND AFTERNOON. THE GRASSLAND FIRE DANGER IS FORECAST TO BE IN THE EXTREME CATEGORY MONDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY. && STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR FURTHER DETAILS OR UPDATES... OR CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT WEATHER.GOV/RAPIDCITY
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
6 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
High Wind, Northern Foot Hills
- When
- October 31, 4:30 AM MST to 6:00 AM MST
- Where
- Northern Foot Hills forecast zone
- Measured
- 54 kt (62 mph) measured gust
- Reported by
- AWOS
- Coordinates
- 44.359, -103.792 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
High Wind, Harding
- When
- October 31, 9:30 AM MST to 3:00 PM MST
- Where
- Harding forecast zone
- Measured
- 55 kt (63 mph) measured gust
- Reported by
- ASOS
- Coordinates
- 45.580, -103.496 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
High Wind, Northern Meade Co Plains
- When
- October 31, 10:30 AM MST to 12:30 PM MST
- Where
- Northern Meade Co Plains forecast zone
- Measured
- 51 kt (59 mph) measured gust
- Reported by
- Mesonet
- Coordinates
- 44.567, -102.717 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
High Wind, Perkins
- When
- October 31, 11:30 AM MST to 1:30 PM MST
- Where
- Perkins forecast zone
- Measured
- 35 kt (40 mph) measured sustained
- Reported by
- Mesonet
- Coordinates
- 45.491, -102.476 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
High Wind, Todd
- When
- October 31, 12:30 PM CST to 2:00 PM CST
- Where
- Todd forecast zone
- Measured
- 52 kt (60 mph) measured gust
- Reported by
- Mesonet
- Coordinates
- 43.193, -100.718 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
What these are
- High Wind
- Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Dense Fog in Florida, October 31, 2016
- High Wind in North Dakota, October 31, 2016
- Flash Flood and Flooding in Puerto Rico, October 31, 2016
- High Wind in Montana, October 31, 2016
- High Wind in Wyoming, October 31, 2016
- High Wind in Wyoming, October 31, 2016
- Wildfire in Colorado, October 31, 2016
- High Wind in Montana, October 31, 2016
More
Every storm in South Dakota in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in South Dakota, October 2016
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 660076, 660077, 660073, 660079, 660074, 660078.