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Winter Storm Bringing Widespread Hazardous Weather to the Eastern U.S.

A rapidly-intensifying winter storm continues to bring heavy snow, high winds, and blizzard conditions over the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes through today. An Arctic front will lead in a period of gusty to high winds and sharply colder temperatures over the entire eastern U.S. Heavy lake effect snow is then expected from Lakes Erie and Ontario through New Year's Day. Read More >

 

2013 South Dakota Tornadoes

Below is a plot of the tornadoes which occurred in South Dakota in 2013 (click to enlarge):

Below is a brief summary of the 2013 tornado season:

·         2013 was a relatively quiet year with only 14 tornadoes reported across the State

·         Here is the breakdown of 2013 tornadoes by EF-Scale:

o   EF0 = 11

o   EF1 = 3

o   EF2 = 0

o   EF3 = 0

o   EF4 = 0

o   EF5 = 0

·         South Dakota averages about 35 tornadoes per year (based on 2001-2010 data)

·         South Dakota has now seen a below average number of tornadoes since 2010 (click to enlarge)

 

Below is the 10 year total of tornado fatalities by state (2001-2010):

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/wcm/ustormaps/2001-2010-fatals.png

 

Fortunately – South Dakota has not had a directly related tornado death since 1999!  Hopefully that trend continues for years to come!