Funnel Cloud — Mcpherson, South Dakota

2024-05-23 · near Leola, Mcpherson, South Dakota

Event narrative

The public relayed through Facebook the presence of a funnel cloud near the town of Leola.

Wider weather episode

Widespread thunderstorms developed during the early afternoon hours on May 23rd in the vicinity of a low pressure system and its associated warm and cold fronts. These storms produced large hail, damaging winds and a pair of funnel clouds. The largest hail observed was golf ball sized 9 miles west of Orient and 7 miles southeast of Burdette. 1 inch hail was also observed in the city of Aberdeen. In addition to the large hail, strong winds were also observed. A weather station 3 miles south of Saint Lawrence recording a wind gust of 76 mph, with an additional 4 other weather stations recording wind gusts in excess of 58 mph scattered across central, north central and northeast South Dakota.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (45.7200, -98.9400)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1178763. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.