Incredible Blizzard Reports, Tornado Radar

Yesterday's blizzard in the Northern Plains was pretty extreme. Rapid City, South Dakota tells the story well - the wind gusts there have been over 60 mph for more than 24 hours, while the temperature has fallen from freezing to 22 degrees F. Yesterday afternoon, they reported a thunderstorm with heavy snow and near-zero visibility from 1 PM to 4 PM, then overnight, they gusted to 97 mph during heavy ice fog with zero visibility!

CHECK "RAW VIDEOS" AT RIGHT FOR BLIZZARD, FLOOD, AND TORNADO DAMAGE FOOTAGE

Some other NWS Spotter reports of note:

Perkins County, North Dakota: 90 mph wind gust during snow. Dickinson, North Dakota: Heavy snow & winds over 35 mph for 3 hours. Hettinger, North Dakota: Heavy snow & winds over 45 mph for 3 hours, gusting to 55 mph. Converse County, Wyoming: Snow drifts of to 6 feet. Chadron, Nebraska: Snow drifts of 5 feet. Sheridan County, Nebraska: Snow drifts to 8 feet; highways 20 & 87 closed. Deadwood, South Dakota: 30 inches of snow Natrona, Wyoming: 28 inches of snow (estimated) Near Grant, Montana: 18 inches of snow Near Pocatello, Idaho: 14 inches of snow

What is a blizzard, technically? The NWS issues a Blizzard Warning when these conditions are met, so I definitely think Rapid City qualified!

Severe weather-wise, hundreds of reports of wind and hail abounded in the Central Plains, with some tornadoes. The following NWS Spotter reports came in yesterday afternoon just before 5 PM CDT:

2145Z: 2 MILES SOUTH OF EAGLE, NEBRASKA: *** 5 INJURED *** OUTBUILDING BLEW INTO CAR. (OAX) 2150Z: 2 MILES NORTH OF EAGLE, NEBRASKA: *** 3 INJ *** TREE FELL ON TRUCK. (OAX)

Here is a radar from just before the storm hit:

You can read more about the apparent Tornado in Eagle (and see photos of the damage) from KPTM & KETV.

In addition to 11 tornado reports, winds were clocked at 91 mph at Manhattan, Kansas, 81 mph at Clay, Iowa, and 4.25" hail was reported at Staplehurst, KS.

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