Hail in Mellette County, South Dakota

Estimated ping pong ball size hail, zero visibility, very strong winds at least over 60 mph rocking truck back and forth. Street flooding now occurring across White River. Time estimated based on radar.

From June 2-4, 2026, a series of disturbances tracking across the region within broad zonal flow set off several rounds of thunderstorms to the region. A slow-moving front on June 2 set off the first round of thunderstorms, producing widespread heavy rain and localized flash flooding. The most significant impacts occurred in Oglala and surrounding communities, where 6 to 7 inches of rain fell in a short period, causing streets and ditches to fill extremely quickly. Some storms also produced large hail and strong winds. Some storms also produced large hail and strong winds.

June 3 brought another round of storms as a disturbance moved across the Northern Plains. Clearing over Wyoming and the Black Hills allowed storms to redevelop along a boundary across southern South Dakota. Several became supercells, including the storm that produced the rain-wrapped Ideal tornado in Tripp County. The tornado mainly affected agricultural land but damaged multiple outbuildings and caused additional RFD'related damage to a nearby modular home.

On June 4, the severe threat was more limited. Lower dewpoints over Wyoming and a strong cap over the Black Hills and western South Dakota kept storm coverage down, though a few storms still became severe with larger hail and strong wind gusts. A landspout also occurred in northeast Wyoming with one of the isolated storms.