Wild Weekend Weather

by KDLT Weather
April 16, 2012 6:28 PM


This past weekend was a wild one for the Great Plains and Midwest. Tornadoes touched down on Saturday in Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. Leaving towns damaged and residents injured but luckily with over 100 reports of Tornadoes so far there have only been 6 deaths confirmed.
The town of Woodward, Oklahoma was one of the hardest hit areas, where a mobile home park took a direct hit from an EF-3 (preliminary rating) Tornado.



(Courtesy: @NewsOK) Hideaway Mobile Home Park in Woodward, Oklahoma after a direct hit from a Tornado

Tornadoes in Kansas Saturday night even caused the National Weather Service office in Wichita to suspend operation and take shelter as a large tornado struck the southern end of the city. Storms moved through the Sioux Empire Saturday night but remained below severe standards.



(Preliminary Storm Reports for Saturday April 14th 2012)

The storm threat moved into our neck of the woods Sunday as well, however storms were not nearly as strong.



(Preliminary Storm Reports for Sunday April 15th 2012)

Many Tornado reports came in Sunday afternoon and early evening. A weak rope Tornado touched down in Knox County, Nebraska and moved north crossing the Missouri River, entering into Bon Homme county near Santee before dissipating. Another weak Tornado was reported in Lyon County, Minnesota just north of Ghent. Tornadoes were only part of the severe weather reports as hail up to 1 inch in diameter was reported near Mitchell and Brookings. Wind Advisories were in place for a good amount of the southeast Sunday as well. Winds gusted anywhere from 40 to 50 mph, with one particularly strong non-thunderstorm gust of 59 mph in Sisseton.





Heavy rain also fell in some of the storms Sunday, setting Daily Record Maximum Rainfall records in Aberdeen, Pierre, Watertown and Sisseton.



(48 Hour Rainfall valid April 16, 2012)







The heavy amounts of rain have been helpful in closing the gap on drought conditions across the state. Sioux Falls still sits below normal for Spring rainfall.



(Sioux Falls Current Rainfall)

After the weekend's rainfall Pierre still remains below normal however only by six one hundredths of an inch



(Pierre Rainfall)

After record daily rainfall on Sunday, Aberdeen is now three quarters of an inch above average for the Spring



Record daily rainfall Sunday also allowed Watertown to make some improvement on drought conditions




Sioux City is now almost an inch above average, ending the months long dry streak.



The active weather pattern will continue through the week as there are several chances for rain by the weekend.  But if you are looking for a warm up, the end of the 7-day shows some promise so stay tuned.