Name: Hail and Damaging Wind in South Dakota, April 27 to 28, 2025
Start: 2025-04-27T21:55
End: 2025-04-28T01:10
Location: South Dakota

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: 2

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.

A system that brought isolated thunderstorms to the region late on April 27th into the early morning hours of April 28th generated half dollar sized hail near the Pierre Regional Airport and a peak wind gust of 69 mph at the South Dakota Department of Transportation mesonet station 2 miles west of Oacoma.

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 Apr 27, 5:40 PM CST, 4 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 27, 5:40 PM CST, 4 hours 15 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 27, 2:09 AM CST, 19 hours 46 minutes before

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In the hours before

Special weather statement, Apr 27, 9:49 PM CST, 6 minutes before

Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Aberdeen SD
1049 PM CDT Sun Apr 27 2025

SDZ033-035-280415-
Hughes SD-Stanley SD-
1049 PM CDT Sun Apr 27 2025

...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WILL IMPACT SOUTH CENTRAL STANLEY AND
NORTHWESTERN HUGHES COUNTIES THROUGH 1115 PM CDT...

At 1049 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm over
Fort Pierre, moving northeast at 35 mph.

HAZARD...Wind gusts up to 40 mph and half inch hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around
         unsecured objects. Minor hail damage to vegetation is
         possible.

Locations impacted include...
Grey Goose, Overlook Rec Area, Fort Pierre, and Pierre.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

&&

LAT...LON 4434 10055 4455 10032 4455 10018 4445 10000
      4421 10037
TIME...MOT...LOC 0349Z 222DEG 32KT 4434 10039

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.50 IN
MAX WIND GUST...40 MPH

13

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 191 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 03:54 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Hughes

When: April 27, 9:55 PM CST
Where: Hughes County, 0.99 mi W of (Pir)pierre Arpt
Measured: 1.25 in hail
Reported by: Trained Spotter
Coordinates: 44.380, -100.300

Thunderstorm Wind, Lyman

When: April 28, 1:10 AM CST
Where: Lyman County, 1 mi W of Oacoma
Measured: 60 kt (69 mph) measured gust
Reported by: Mesonet
Coordinates: 43.800, -99.420

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
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 2025 Every state in 2025 This day in weather history Warnings in South Dakota, April 2025

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: 1240910, 1240911.