Winter Weather — Brule, South Dakota

2020-10-22 · Brule, South Dakota

Event narrative

Light freezing drizzle started prior to sunrise and continued into the early afternoon before changing to light snowfall. Light ice accumulation on roadways produced treacherous conditions on Interstate 90 for several hours. At 0750CST, a vehicle slid off the eastbound lane around mile marker 281 (2 miles west of Kimball) and resulted in the fatality (indirect) of the driver. Ice accumulation was around a tenth of an inch, with 1.0 inches of snowfall reported 5 miles south southeast of Chamberlain.

Wider weather episode

With cold air entrenched north of a warm front across southern Nebraska and Iowa, lift associated with a strong upper-level jet focused atop the cold dome resulted in widespread light freezing rain and drizzle, and some areas of snow deeper into the cold air. The freezing rain developed during the late night and early morning hours, and generally ended by later morning or early afternoon. Ice accumulations varied from a few hundredths to almost a quarter inch, while accumulated snow was mainly less than an inch from west of the James River through the Highway 14 corridor in east central South Dakota.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 924369. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.