SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO)– This weekend’s weather has been a rather active one. Initially, the focus was going to be on what we saw in the first half of the stretch. Though Saturday night and Sunday morning featured a widespread event that had its own round of wind and hail across a good portion of KELOLAND, early Monday morning took the spotlight.
In the pre-dawn hours of the day, a severe thunderstorm crossed from Nebraska into south-central South Dakota, producing hail as large as tennis balls at times in Oglala Lakota County. This storm would then track northeast over the next seven hours, and with no other storms in the region, it tapped into a wealth of fuel in the atmosphere to sustain its run.
Monday’s storm traveled multiple miles
By the time the storm reached central South Dakota, it was producing devastating wind speeds in excess of 110 miles per hour southeast of Pierre as well as in Hand County near Ree Heights, and 130 miles per hour in Hyde County in the Highmore area.
To put those numbers into perspective, that’s the equivalent of an EF-2 tornado or a high-end category three to low-end category four hurricane.
The storm’s path of destruction continued into northeastern South Dakota, where a tornado touched down near Andover, and another was observed near Pierpont. Gusts in excess of 80 miles per hour were observed near Redfield, with golf-ball-sized hail near Eden in Marshall County. Eventually, the storm would make its exit through northeastern South Dakota and push into southeastern North Dakota and western Minnesota.
No travel advised in Highmore area
In total, this lone thunderstorm produced a path of damage and destruction that stretched several hundred miles from Batesland to Sica Hollow State Park…