Precipitation was slightly above normal during February 2023. However, drought conditions remained largely unchanged through the month.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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 FSD wrote it up.
Precipitation was slightly above normal during February 2023. However, drought conditions remained largely unchanged through the month.
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 Sioux Falls, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 31, 10:42 PM CST, 1 hour 18 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION National Weather Service Sioux Falls SD 1042 PM CST Tue Jan 31 2023 .SHORT TERM...(This Evening through Wednesday) Issued at 323 PM CST Tue Jan 31 2023 Quiet, cold conditions continue tonight and Wednesday amidst dry northwest flow aloft. Temperatures will tank quickly with sunset thanks to lighter winds and mostly clear skies. However warming air aloft will keep temperatures mild overnight as strong 950-850mb WAA takes hold as a clipper develops in the Canadian Rockies. Expect morning lows to reside in the single digits on either side of the zero marker with fairly light southwest winds, aside from slightly warmer and breezier conditions on and downwind of the MN Buffalo Ridge. Model soundings suggest potential for stratus and/or patchy fog development overnight as WAA couples with rapid nocturnal cooling after sunset to saturate the sub inversion layer. Given that this looks like a very thin saturated layer with a 5+ degree dew point depression near the sfc, will refrain from introducing fog or stratus beyond some scattered cloud cover at this time. Slightly milder conditions continue Wednesday and Wednesday night as weak sfc high pressure builds through. Any lingering clouds should give way to sunshine by the afternoon with highs reaching the teens to 20s, warmest along the MO River Valley. Wednesday night's low will be even milder than tonight's with weak westerly winds. .LONG TERM...(Wednesday Night through Tuesday) Issued at 323 PM CST Tue Jan 31 2023 Main impact Thursday through the weekend is subtle temperature variations with another round of subzero wind chills expected Thursday night into early Friday. Behind the aforementioned weak clipper system tracking along the international border comes an Arctic front with a strong push of cold air, falling temperatures, and breezy north winds for Thursday afternoon. Some models (e.g., NAM) suggest a weakly unstable layer could bring a chance of flurries during this period. A strong Arctic high building into Minnesota Thursday night coupled with lows in the single digits to teens below zero looks increasingly likely to bring wind chills in the teens and 20s below. Fortunately this cold blast looks short lived with deterministic models supporting mid to high cloud streaming in and increasing southeast winds by Friday morning, which will help moderate nocturnal radiative cooling. Despite warmer air building in aloft from the west, lingering clouds and breezy south winds will make wind chills slow to improve Friday. A more active, amplified pattern sets up across the U.S. over the weekend and through early next week. Despite occasional bullishly wet deterministic model runs for early next week, an overall model consensus favors just milder temperatures and limited (if any) moisture for the weekend and early next week. && .AVIATION...(For the 06Z TAFS through 06Z Wednesday Night) Issued at 1039 PM CST Tue Jan 31 2023 VFR conditions continue. Some models hint at the potential for some stratus/fog development west of the Buffalo Ridge; however, with lack of low level moisture expect any fog to struggle and stratus to remain scattered and likely low VFR v.s. MVFR. Otherwise, breezy winds around 10-15 knots continue along the Buffalo Ridge and into northwestern IA through the period. Light winds of 5-10 knots expected elsewhere. Direction remains south to southwesterly. && .FSD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SD...None. MN...None. IA...None. NE...None. && SHORT TERM...BP LONG TERM...BP AVIATION...SG
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Sioux Falls SD 523 PM CST Tue Jan 31 2023 IAZ001>003-012>014-020>022-031-032-MNZ071-072-080-081-089-090-097- 098-NEZ013-014-SDZ038>040-050-052>071-012330- Lyon-Osceola-Dickinson-Sioux-O'Brien-Clay-Plymouth-Cherokee- Buena Vista-Woodbury-Ida-Lincoln-Murray-Cottonwood-Nobles-Jackson- Pipestone-Rock-Dixon-Dakota-Beadle-Kingsbury-Brookings-Gregory- Jerauld-Sanborn-Miner-Lake-Moody-Brule-Aurora-Davison-Hanson-McCook- Minnehaha-Charles Mix-Douglas-Hutchinson-Turner-Bon Homme-Yankton- Union- 523 PM CST Tue Jan 31 2023 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for northwest Iowa, west central Iowa, southwest Minnesota, northeast Nebraska, central South Dakota, east central South Dakota, south central South Dakota and southeast South Dakota. .DAY ONE...Tonight. Wind chill values as low as 15 below zero tonight and into early Wednesday. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday. On Thursday night, another shot of colder air will bring wind chill values in the teens and 20s below zero. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not expected at this time.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Exceptional (D4) drought conditions persisted through February.
Exceptional (D4) drought conditions persisted through February.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyWarnings in Nebraska, February 2023
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: 1081580, 1081581.