South Dakota, 2019

Damaging Winds in South Dakota, July 4 to 5, 2019

July 4 to 5, 2019 · NWS ABR · 4 events in 3 counties and zones

Severe thunderstorms brought sixty to over 100 mph winds to parts of central South Dakota during the late evening hours of July 4th into the early morning hours of July 5th.

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
4

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.

Severe thunderstorms brought sixty to over 100 mph winds to parts of central South Dakota during the late evening hours of July 4th into the early morning hours of July 5th.

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 Jul 4, 4:15 PM MST, 6 hours 11 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 4, 4:15 PM MST, 6 hours 11 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, Jul 4, 2:14 AM MST, 20 hours 12 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>

The radar

The Rapid City radar (KUDX), 141 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 05:25 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Stanley

When
July 4, 10:26 PM MST
Where
Stanley County, 3.76 mi NNE of Bunker
Measured
94 kt (108 mph) measured gust
Reported by
Mesonet
Coordinates
44.280, -101.070

A personal weather station recorded a sustained wind of 73 mph with a gust to 108 mph northeast of Bunker.

Thunderstorm Wind, Stanley

When
July 4, 10:37 PM MST
Where
Stanley County, 6.28 mi ESE of Hayes Airstrip
Measured
64 kt (74 mph) measured gust
Reported by
Mesonet
Coordinates
44.340, -100.880

Thunderstorm Wind, Lyman

When
July 5, 12:14 AM CST
Where
Lyman County, 4.48 mi WSW of Mc Clure
Measured
52 kt (60 mph) measured gust
Reported by
Mesonet
Coordinates
44.050, -100.330

Thunderstorm Wind, Hughes

When
July 5, 1:14 AM CST
Where
Hughes County, 4.49 mi W of Blunt
Measured
53 kt (61 mph) measured gust
Reported by
Mesonet
Coordinates
44.510, -100.070

What these are

Thunderstorm Wind
Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in South Dakota in 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyWarnings in South Dakota, July 2019

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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 845682, 845691, 845701, 845715.