High Wind — Hughes, South Dakota

2025-06-16 · Hughes, South Dakota

Event narrative

A weather station 17 miles east of Pierre recorded a peak wind gust of 60 mph associated with a decaying thunderstorm heat burst.

Wider weather episode

Strong storms would develop over north central South Dakota a little after midnight on June 16th, with another cluster developing in northeast South Dakota during the early morning hours. While some storms would produce high winds themselves, decaying storms would generate the strongest winds as heat bursts, with a peak wind gust of 87 mph measured at the South Dakota Department of Transportation mesonet site 13 miles north northwest of Sansarc, with a 73 mph gust measured at the Remote Automated Weather Station 11 miles south of Bullhead. Half-dollars sized hail was also observed near Pickerel Lake.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1269579. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.