RAPID CITY, SD – 2022 has been full of pretty big weather events, even after a pretty slow start.
April 12-13
A blizzard swept through the northern Great Plains and was mostly isolated from North Dakota, but the effects were felt far to northwest South Dakota, where Buffalo received nearly a foot of snow.
April 21-23
A week and a half later, severe thunderstorms rolled through the state, dropping 3.5-inch hail between Wall and Kadoka and 2-inch hail in the southern Black Hills. Over the next few hours on the morning of April 22, rain and hail turned to snow.
Another blizzard hit far western South Dakota, bringing two feet of snow to the northern hills.
June 11-13
Weather activity calmed down in May, but returned with full force in June. Thunderstorms dumping massive hail rocked the Black Hills and surrounding plains for three days.
4.5 inch hail was reported at Wall and large amounts of 4 inch hail was reported at Bell Fourche destroying buildings and vehicles. There was even a small tornado near Murdo.
During this period, winds of over 90 mph were recorded each of these days.
July, 1st
After a short break in thunderstorm activity, thunderstorms returned to the area in early July. These thunderstorms weren’t particularly strong, but they were drawing on monsoon moisture coming in from the southwest of the desert.
This amount of moisture, combined with a stationary front, caused several inches of rain to fall on Box Elder in less than an hour. All these rains caused major flooding throughout the region and damaged many houses.
December 12-16
The weather in the fall was fairly calm, but the onset of winter greeted the region with a tremendous blizzard. Over the course of five days, several feet of snow blanketed the central plains and northern Black Hills.
50 inches of snow was reported at Terry Peak. There were also numerous gusts of wind over 60 mph which significantly reduced visibility.
December 20-23
Mother Nature didn’t give us much breathing space to recover from the previous storm before throwing us another curve ball. The week following the December 12-16 blizzard, temperatures dropped and the wind began to pick up.
Wind chills dropped to dangerously low temperatures, reaching -50 degrees in some areas. On the night of December 21, a small amount of snow fell in the area. Because of the temperatures, there wasn’t much moisture in the snow. This meant it could be blown away more easily.
The blowing snow created blizzard conditions on the ground, reducing visibility to near zero at times and making travel impossible for much of the state. There was so much blowing snow you could even see it by satellite.
Around 1:30 a.m. on December 22, Rapid City broke its daily low temperature record by dropping to -18 degrees.
This, combined with very strong winds, caused wind chills of -60 degrees to be felt across the region and created a deadly situation for anyone stuck on the roads during the blizzard.
Looking ahead, it looks like South Dakota won’t get much respite in 2023, with more winter weather on the way.
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