A cold front brought the threat of severe thunderstorms to northeast South Dakota on the afternoon and evening of August 10th. Initially, individual storms presented both a hail and wind threat in the James Valley, with reports of golfball sized hail in Brown and Hand counties.
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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.
A cold front brought the threat of severe thunderstorms to northeast South Dakota on the afternoon and evening of August 10th. Initially, individual storms presented both a hail and wind threat in the James Valley, with reports of golfball sized hail in Brown and Hand counties. As the storms moved east into the Prairie Coteau region, they organized into a broken line and presented more of a wind threat. The Department of Transportation mesonet station 6 miles west of Henry recorded a 74 mph wind gust, and the nearby town of Henry also experienced damage to trees. There was also a pair of brief tornado touchdowns farther to the south associated with one of the stronger cells embedded within this line, though no damage was ever noted.
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 Aug 10, 1:14 PM CST, 2 hours 26 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Aberdeen SD 214 PM CDT Thu Aug 10 2023 .SHORT TERM...(This Evening through Friday Night) Issued at 213 PM CDT Thu Aug 10 2023 The forecast challenges include: 1. severe storms potential now through late this evening 2. severe storms potential Friday afternoon across far northeast South Dakota and west central Minnesota At 2 PM CDT, skies range from partly cloudy to mostly sunny and temperatures are warming through the 70s and 80s. Winds are generally out of the south or southeast, except west of a cold front that is beginning to push east river. West of this cold front, winds are switching around and blowing out of the northwest. There are a few light rain showers out over north central South Dakota. Still looking like a decent severe weather setup for this afternoon/early evening, despite the broken to, at times, overcast mid/high level clouds around the region. The cloudiness may just delay the onset timing of things a little bit. There seem to be two distinct regions of convective potential/concern over the CWA this afternoon/evening; the first being the warm frontal zone over the northeast corner of the CWA, associated with a lead shortwave currently spinning/working toward the James River valley region. The second area of concern is along a weak cold front/surface trof that is about to push east of the Missouri River valley. This boundary has the PVA axis to work with from a second shortwave seen in Water Vapor pushing in across the western Dakotas at this time. Starting to see a dent getting made in the weak thermal capping inversion in place (~ +8C to +10C at 700hpa). That cap erosion should continue through the afternoon, as the boundary layer heats up and destabilizes to the tune of ~1500-3000J/kg of MLCAPE and 30 to 40 knots of deep layer shear to work with. Along with an initial large hail threat, there is a low probability risk of a tornado or two across the low to mid-level WAA zone of ascent over the northeastern forecast zones. Not a slam dunk for tor's, 0-3km and 0- 6km shear-wise, but, placement relative to the developing/approaching sfc low, low level lapse rates, 0-1km shear and surface vorticity all check boxes for Tor. So, will have to monitor things if any storms end up developing further east in that zone of WAA/along the warm front over northeast South Dakota, out ahead of the cold-frontal forced storms that are expected to be developing between the Missouri and James River valleys. Not the best shear environment to turn storm mode to linear, at least not until late this evening when a low level jet develops, pointing up into eastern South Dakota, so perhaps initial discrete supercells could have a chance to maintain their individuality longer before transitioning to a couple of small bowing line segments. On Friday, there could be a few showers and thunderstorms strafing the northeast corner of the CWA during the early to mid-afternoon hours. Friday's convective potential consists of strong shear (potentially 50 knots of deep layer shear), but not-so-strong instability (perhaps only upwards of 750-1250J/kg of MLCAPE. Continued PoPs for that area of the CWA on Friday. Temperatures through Friday night should be running fairly close to normal for early August. .LONG TERM...(Saturday through Thursday) Issued at 213 PM CDT Thu Aug 10 2023 West to northwest flow will persist aloft through much of the extended. The first chance for widespread showers and thunderstorms is expected Saturday night into Sunday as an upper trough digs into the northern Plains with abundant associated shortwave energy. The sfc low over the central plains will lend some forcing...though much of that will be directed toward southeast SD and northwest IA. Sfc high pressure builds in behind the sfc low on Sunday across central SD and eventually spreads east. A building upper ridge may take a bit longer to transition, but should influence heights by late Monday. The remainder of the time period looks mostly dry though, due to model inconsistency, confidence is low by the middle of next week for pops. Temperatures will remain near or below average through the extended with highs only around normal in the 80s to lower 90s under the ridge early next week. && .AVIATION...(For the 18Z TAFS through 18Z Friday Afternoon) Issued at 1203 PM CDT Thu Aug 10 2023 Terminals KABR,KATY,KPIR,KMBG VFR skies/vsbys are expected through the next 24 hours. Storms are forecast to form and be on the increase late this afternoon/evening, mainly for KABR/KATY. IFR conditions (mainly visbies) are possible with the storms, along with torrential rainfall, large hail and damaging winds. && .ABR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SD...None. MN...None. && SHORT TERM...Dorn LONG TERM...Wise AVIATION...Dorn
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Aberdeen SD 351 AM CDT Thu Aug 10 2023 MNZ039-046-SDZ003>011-015>023-033>037-045-048-051-110900- 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- 351 AM CDT Thu Aug 10 2023 /251 AM MDT Thu Aug 10 2023/ This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for west central Minnesota, central South Dakota, north central South Dakota and northeast South Dakota. .DAY ONE...Today and tonight. A cold front crossing the region later this afternoon will bring scattered shower and thunderstorms. The storms may develop along Highway 83 after 3 pm CDT, and progress eastward through the evening hours. Some storms may be capable of producing golf ball size hail and 60 mph winds. Cannot rule out a tornado or two. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Friday through Wednesday. Another round of thunderstorms will be possible Friday afternoon over northeastern South Dakota and western Minnesota. Quarter size hail and 60 mph winds will be possible. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation may be requested. Weather spotters are encouraged to submit reports to the National Weather Service in Aberdeen. The public can submit reports on our web page, Facebook page, or our Twitter feed. SD
The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 42 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:41 UTC.
9 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 funnel cloud, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm winds were strong enough to blow the property off of this individuals patio.
A member of the public reported that the storm generated quarter to golfball sized hail, enough to completely cover the ground.
A member of the public was contacted and they estimated the wind speed at 65 mph.
A trained spotter reported wind damage to his corn field.
The individual reported an estimated peak thunderstorm wind speed of 60 mph.
A heavy wooden trailer with a water tank on it was blown approximately 150 yards across two ditches before hitting a neighbors house.
Thunderstorm winds knocked down three trees in town. A 3-4 inch diameter branch from another tree was blown off, impaling a nearby home.
A storm chaser reported a funnel cloud which lasted approximately 2 minutes, and that no surface circulation was observed.
Emergency management reported that thunderstorm winds had blown in the doors on a barn.
Law enforcement and a storm chaser reported the brief touchdown of a tornado in an open field. The tornado path was later visible on hi-resolution satellite imagery.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in South Dakota in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for South Dakota, 2023Warnings in South Dakota, August 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: 1113531, 1113526, 1113527, 1113532, 1113528, 1113535, 1113589, 1113536, 1113585, 1113537, 1113587, 1113525, 1113586, 1113557.