Sioux Falls, SD

Weather Forecast Office

Heavy Rain and Snow Melt Create Widespread Flooding - March 13-14, 2019

Overview

A historic storm system moved across the central United States March 12-14, 2019. This storm system produced blizzard conditions, heavy rainfall, and severe storms. The rapid northward movement of warm air with this system led to extended periods of fog, but also rapid snow melt in the region.

Snow melt and heavy rains have led to historic flooding in many portions of South Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska. Over 15 new crest level records were reported on rivers in the Sioux Falls forecast area from this event.

In addition to heavy rain and snow melt, this storm system brought strong and prolonged high winds to the region. Sustained winds between 25 and 40 mph were common, with gusts between 50 and 60 mph. A few gusts higher than 60 mph and even 70 mph were also reported.

As colder air wrapped into this system, rain turned to snow, with ice accumulations up to a tenth of an inch near Huron and Chamberlain, and snow amounts of 1 to 4 inches in the local area.

Radar Loop Of March Storm


Two Day Precipitation Totals	Peak Wind Gusts	Total Snowfall	Satellite View

Wind
Flooding
Photos & Video
Radar
Rainfall

Wind:

Here's a look at the peak wind gusts across the region during the March 12-14, 2019 blizzard. Average sustained winds were between 25 and 35 mph, with peak gusts between 50 and 60+ mph reported. Minor damage was reported in a few locations

Peak Wind Gusts

Mitchell Municipal Airport	67	Storden	51
Lake Andes RAWS	65	2 NE Sibley	51
Huron Regional Airport	63	Storm Lake Airport	51
Spencer Municipal Airport	61	Tracy Airport	51
Sioux Falls Airport	60	Slayton Municipal Airport	49
Jackson Airport	60	Platte	47
2 W Dovray	60	Cherokee Municipal Airport	46
1 ESE Gregory	59	Canton	46
Madison Airport	59	Luverne Airport	46
Marshall Municipal Airport	59	3 W Dickens	46
Chamberlain Municipal Airport	58	1 WNW Lake Benton	45
Beaver Creek	58	1 NNE Round Lake	44
Sioux Gateway Airport	58	Wahpeton	44
1 ENE Rushmore	57	Sioux Center	43
3 SSE Lake Park	56	Le Mars Airport	43
Sheldon Airport	56	Moville	43
3 SE Lakefield	55	4 SSE Westfield	40
4 ENE Jeffers	55	Garretson	40
Windom Muni Airport	55	4 W Sioux Falls	39
1 ENE Concord	55	Minneota	39
Worthington Airport	55	3 S Hendricks	39
Yankton Municipal Airport	55	Ida Grove	39
Butte 8NNW	54	Tyler	38
Pipestone Airport	54	2 NNW Le Mars	36
2 ENE Truesdale	53	1 NW Hartley	34
2 W Arco	52	1 ENE Tea	33
1 NE Platte	52	Ethan	32
1 SSE Wagner	52	Sioux Falls 14 NNE	32
Pipestone	52	Sioux Center	31
Brookings Municipal Airport	51

Flooding

Heavy rainfall and rapid snow melt led to new preliminary record crests on several rivers across the region.


Local River Records	Peak River Forecast Stage

Hydrographs


Big Sioux Near Brandon	Little Sioux at Cherokee	West Fork Ditch at Hornick	Skunk Creek near Hartfod


Floyd River at James	Logan Creek Near Wakefield	Maple River at Ida Grove	Ocheyedan River at Everly

Skunk Creek at Sioux Falls	Missouri River at Springfield	Vermillion River at Parker	Big Sioux at Western

Willow Creek Near Crooks	Ocheyedan River at Spencer	Floyd River Near Struble

Photos & Video


61st and Marion in Sioux Falls		Downtown Sioux Falls (Sheila Anderson)	Yankton (Drew Lawrence)

Hawarden, IA (Andy Minihan)	Hawarden, IA (Andy Minihan)	Perry Creek	Tyndall, SD

Yankton, SD (WNAX)	Downtown Sioux Falls (Sheila Anderson)	Falls Park Panorama (Matthew Dux)	Falls Park, in Sioux Falls (Matthew Dux)

Radar

Regional Radar Loop

Rain Reports

Widespread heavy rains moved across the region, producing 1 to 3 inches of rain in many locations. Here's an overview of rainfall totals from this storm system.


2 Day Precipitation Totals	72 Hour Precipitation Totals	Record Rainfall Amounts

6 ESE Baltic	3.15	1 NW Hartley	1.96	Marshall	1.65
Sioux Falls 14 NNE	3.14	Lakefield 2 NE	1.94	Huron	1.64
Bridgewater	3.13	4 SSE Hardwick	1.9	Worthington	1.62
Fedora 10s	3.04	Spirit Lake	1.9	Correctionville	1.6
9 NNE Fulton	3.04	Edgerton	1.89	Rock Valley	1.6
Clayton	3.02	Sioux Gateway Airport	1.88	1 NNE Round Lake	1.56
Yankton Municipal Airport	2.99	Luverne	1.87	4 W Hinton	1.55
1 ESE Vermillion	2.96	Mitchell Municipal Airport	1.86	Worthington Airport	1.54
Tyndall	2.83	6 NW Hinton	1.86	1 SW Sioux City	1.53
5 NNW Ethan	2.65	Rock Rapids	1.86	Brookings Municipal Airport	1.53
2 W Westfield	2.59	Pipestone	1.85	Brookings	1.52
Akron	2.56	Alton	1.85	Rock River Below Rock Rapids	1.51
1 NE Sioux Falls	2.55	4 SW Burke	1.83	Sioux Center	1.51
4 SE Olivet	2.51	3 SSE Lake Park	1.83	Huron Regional Airport	1.5
Sioux Falls Airport	2.49	Edgerton	1.82	3 SSW Hinton	1.48
3 SSW Sioux Falls	2.48	Linn Grove	1.82	2 NE Academy	1.47
Sioux Falls NWS	2.46	Cherokee	1.82	2 E Storm Lake	1.38
2 NE Crooks	2.46	Lake Andes RAWS	1.8	3 WSW Spencer	1.33
Pipestone	2.39	Sioux Center	1.78	2 NNW Le Mars	1.32
Sioux Falls Harmondon Park	2.37	7 WSW Platte	1.77	Spencer Municipal Airport	1.32
2 NNW Sioux Center	2.34	Sioux City Ang	1.77	3 SSE Lake Park	1.31
Alexandria	2.28	Marshall 0.6 S	1.75	3 NNE Parker	1.29
5 ESE Chester	2.28	Bonesteel	1.75	Chamberlain	1.28
Sheldon	2.27	James River	1.74	Le Mars Airport	1.26
5 E Flandreau	2.13	Pipestone	1.74	Sheldon Airport	1.16
Chester 2n	2.11	2 WSW Marshall	1.73	1 ESE North Sioux City	1.15
4 SSE Westfield	2.1	Spirit Lake	1.73	Sioux Falls-26mi.wnw	1.1
Tracy Airport	2.1	3 WNW Everly	1.73	Jackson Airport	1.06
Jasper	2.06	3 W Sioux Falls	1.72	Storden	0.95
Spirit Lake	2.04	2 N Vermillion	1.7	Cherokee Municipal Airport	0.94
Brookings	1.98	2 NNW Sioux City	1.7	Storm Lake Airport	0.87
		3 N Hawarden	1.67	Pipestone Airport	0.72

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