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Lake Effect Snow in the Lower Great Lakes; Rain and High Elevation Snow in the West

Lake-effect snow will continue downwind of Lakes Erie and Ontario through Friday. In the Western U.S., rain and higher elevation snow will continue over the Great Basin through Friday. A front will move over the Pacific Northwest Thursday afternoon and produce light rain and higher elevation snow over the Cascades through Saturday. Read More >

Overview

A potent cold front swept through the region on the late afternoon and evening of Wednesday, January 13th, 2021. Behind the front, northwesterly winds became very strong. Wednesday night through Thursday night, winds across the area were sustained at 35 to 50 mph, with gusts of 60 to more than 80 mph. In Harding County, a gust of 93 mph was measured with the frontal passage! Winds finally diminished Friday morning. Numerous rollovers were reported during this long duration high wind event, especially along I-90 across western South Dakota. Many homes and businesses sustained property damage, and several wind driven grass fires produced additional damage.

The image to the right shows the wind observations at the NWS office near downtown Rapid City for the duration of the high wind event.
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NWS Rapid City Wind Observations
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