Thunderstorm Wind — Union, South Dakota

2025-06-02 · near Junction City, Union, South Dakota

Event narrative

Thunderstorm winds caused tree and structural damage to an agricultural-themed event venue. The fence at the property was also blown over. Large grain bins were also dented inward approximately 1 mile to the southeast of this property on Burbank Road.

Wider weather episode

Scattered strong to severe thunderstorms developed late afternoon along a slow-moving frontal boundary. Even with fairly weak deep-layer shear, strong instability resulted in large hail. Drier air and advancing cold pools later in development produced spotty damaging winds. High moisture content and slowly progressing storms also produced some locally heavy rainfall with rates briefly from 3 to 5 inches per hour.

A particularly intense and long-lived supercell developed near Vermillion and tracked southeast, generating hail up to golf ball size and a swath of damaging winds along Burbank Road up to 85 mph.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (42.7300, -96.8000)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1278155. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.