The winter storm that struck Wyoming, western South Dakota and Nebraska on Friday and Saturday will go down in the record books as one of the, if not the, most extreme such so early in the season on record for any region in the United States. Rapid City, South Dakota measured 23.1” downtown, the city’s 2nd greatest snowstorm on record (for any month), just falling short of a 25.6” snowfall in April, 1927. The Black saw phenomenal totals with 58.0” reported near Beulah and 55.0” in Lead. This would be the heaviest 24-hour snowfall on record for the state of South Dakota (previous record at Lead with 52" reported on March 14, 1973). The blizzard was accompanied by peak wind gusts to 71 mph at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota, 70 mph at Harrison, Nebraska, and 69 mph at Kings Canyon, Wyoming. Snowfall in Wyoming up to 36.0” accumulated in the mountains south of Casper. Casper itself picked up 16.3”, its 10th greatest snowstorm on record (for any month and 3rd greatest October total).
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The October 3-5, 2013 blizzard will go down in the record books as a mega-storm for the Black Hills Region, and especially so for Rapid City.