Blizzard — Day, South Dakota

2020-12-23 · Day, South Dakota

Event narrative

A woman driving to work from her home in rural Amherst to Bristol became disoriented in the blizzard and drove into a slough and died. She was recovered over a month later on January 29th.

Wider weather episode

An intense surface low pressure area along with a powerful cold front brought snow and high winds to northeast South Dakota on December 23rd. The surface low pressure area and cold front tracked from west to east across the region from the early morning into the afternoon hours. Extremely strong northerly winds, gusting from 50 to 70 mph, combined with the snow created widespread blizzard conditions and hazardous travel. Snowfall amounts ranged from 2 to 5 inches across the region. The highest wind gusts included, 66 mph at Victor and Watertown; 67 mph at Mellette and 7 miles northeast of Estelline; 68 mph at Aberdeen and 3 miles southwest of Big Stone City.

Temperatures also dropped significantly behind the system. In fact, above normal and even record temperatures in the 50s and lower 60s on Tuesday, December 22nd, dropped 40 to 50 degrees by the late afternoon of Wednesday, December 23rd.

Much of northeast South Dakota was placed under no travel advisories with many reports of traffic accidents and stranded motorists. A woman driving to work from her home in rural Amherst to Bristol became disoriented in the blizzard and drove into a slough and died. She was recovered over a month later on January 29th. Also, a truck carrying 9 tanks of hydrogen sulfide went off the highway 1 mile west of Webster in the blizzard and into a lake. The driver was rescued and was unharmed. A hazmat team was called in to ensure safe retrieval of the truck from the lake with no leaks from the tanks noted.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 934826. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.