SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO)– Strong to severe storms rolled through portions of northern and northwestern KELOLAND on Sunday. While the actual storms themselves produced some impressive wind gusts, including a 100-mile-per-hour gust in Buffalo, we also got a great example of another way we can get strong winds without a storm in sight.
Annual KELOLAND – Lewis Drug Pet Food Drive
While the actual storms were mostly in the northwestern counties of South Dakota, a line can be seen traveling through Spearfish and Sturgis before pushing into the Rapid City area. This is what is called an “Outflow Boundary”…better known as a gust front.
These form when cooler, denser air in a thunderstorm descends quickly to the ground and displaces the warmer air at the surface. This rush of cool air forces the warm air upward, creating the boundary, which is also usually seen as a shelf cloud in the sky.
While not as intense as the winds closer to the North Dakota border, this particular gust front still packed a decent punch as it pushed southeastward. Numerous reports of gusts from 50 to 65 miles per hour were observed as that boundary made its way through western KELOLAND…