National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Storm Surge Flooding Continues in the Outer Banks; Dangerous Heat in the West

Storm surge flooding will continue through tonight in the Outer Banks in North Carolina as Hurricane Erin continues to move away from the U.S. Wind gusts up to tropical storm force are possible along the Mid-Atlantic and southern New England coasts through Friday. A dangerous, record heat wave will continue across the Desert Southwest and the Central Valley of California through Saturday. Read More >

Overview

A powerful low-pressure system slowly moved across the central plains on December 25-26, 2023. Plentiful moisture wrapped around the low into western SD, bringing heavy snow to parts of our area. The highest amounts were in the northern Black Hills, where over a foot of snow fell. A tight pressure gradient resulted in very strong winds on the western SD plains, with gusts of 50-60 mph creating blizzard conditions along with much blowing and drifting snow. The highest wind gust was 72 mph at the Rapid City Airport. As warm air filtered into the region behind the low, snow changed to freezing rain, which caused some icing across parts of northwestern SD. Much of Interstate 90 was closed for about 12 hours, and even afterwards, no travel was advised, especially in the northern Black Hills.

Make sure you click on the Radar and Satellite tab below. Check out the water vapor loop, which gives perspective on how much area the storm covered across the United States.

 

Blizzard in New Underwood, SD
New Underwood, SD
Courtesy Amy Hakola
nws logo Media use of NWS Web News Stories is encouraged!
Please acknowledge the NWS as the source of any news information accessed from this site.
nws logo