This Day in Weather History: May 3rd

Weather History - May 3rd

May 3rd, 1895:

A tornado moved northeast from 3 miles northwest of Redfield through Ashton. It was estimated to be on the ground for about 5 miles. Several homes were unroofed, and barns were destroyed. Tornadoes were also spotted in Minnehaha and Bon Homme Counties in South Dakota.

May 3rd, 1907:

The low temperature at Watertown fell to 16 degrees, making this the coldest May temperature ever recorded in Watertown.

May 3rd, 1960:

Late-season snowfall of 3 to 7 inches covered Perkins, Corson, and Campbell Counties. Lemmon reported 7 inches, and 6 miles SE of McIntosh had 6.5 inches. Main roads were very slippery, and some rural roads were impassable for about one day.

May 3rd, 1999:

Two to four inches of rain fell across southeastern Dewey County, causing flash flooding south of La Plant, mainly on Willow Creek. As a result of the flash flooding, several roads were underwater.  Highway 212, south of La Plant, was flooded for a few hours along with Highway 8, 15 miles south of La Plant.  The flash flooding resulted in some road and bridge damage.

May 3rd, 2002:

With low humidity, dry vegetation, and increasing South winds, embers from a day-old controlled burn initiated a large grassland fire in the early afternoon west of Claremont. South winds of 30 to 40 mph gusting to 50 mph caused the fire to spread quickly. The fire extended to 4 miles wide and spread 4 miles north before it was contained late in the evening. Many trees and a mobile home, an abandoned house, and an old barn burned. Seven miles of road had to be closed due to poor visibility from smoke. Eleven fire departments with nearly 150 firefighters extinguished the fire. The fire was completely put out during the afternoon hours of the 4th. This fire was one of the largest grassland fires in Brown County history.