Blizzard in Brown, South Dakota

Blizzard conditions started at 434 am, with the visibility at the Aberdeen Regional Airport ASOS down to a quarter mile or less. Wind gusts were recorded between 40 and 55 mph with a peak gust of 61 mph.

These strong winds were also responsible for tree damage in town, with a large limb landing on and damaging a pair of vehicles in Aberdeen.

3.7 inches of snow was recorded during this event at the National Weather Service office located adjacent to the Aberdeen Regional Airport. Catch was higher in town, with one CoCoRaHS observer estimating a total accumulation of approximately 8 inches.

A system brought strong winds to the region, with a band of snow across the northeast South Dakota. This resulted in blizzard conditions with widespread travel impacts from the early morning through the afternoon of February 18.

Peak winds associated with the system included a gust measuring 72 mph by a mesonet station owned by a trained spotter in Faulkton, a 71 mph gust recorded by the South Dakota Department of Transportation (SDDOT) Road Weather Information System (RWIS) 4 miles north of Altamont (Deuel county) and a 67 mph gusts measured by the SDDOT RWIS 7 miles east of Clark. 47 additional weather stations would record a peak wind gust at or in excess of 58 mph.

The Andover and Westport COOP observers reported blizzard or ground blizzard conditions at the time of their observations.

Not much overall snowfall occurred with the system, but within the band snowfall averaged about 4 inches with the COOP observers in Westport and Clark reporting a total of 4.1 and 4.0 inches of snowfall respectively. Additionally, the National Weather Service office just outside the Aberdeen Regional Airport measured 3.7 inches.