After weekend temperatures in the 50s, Mother Nature gave South Dakotans a reminder of what December and winter typically bring.
Sleet and ice followed by snow and strong winds made travel difficult, closed schools and created power issues Monday in the south central part of the state, where as much as 6 inches of snow fell and winds neared 45 mph.
As of 4 p.m. Monday, the National Weather Service had reported 6 inches of snow in Platte, 1.5 inches in Chamberlain, 4 inches in White Lake, 3 inches of snow in Gregory and 2 inches in Wessington Springs. Various region towns also reported a quarter-inch of freezing rain in the early morning hours before the snow began to fall.
Tim Masters, a technician with the National Weather Service office in Sioux Falls, said Mitchell received 3.8 inches of snow by 8 p.m.
The National Weather Service office in Rapid City, which is responsible for Tripp County, received a report of 7 inches of snow near Hamill and 6 inches near Wewela.
In addition to the snow, winds created problems with visibility. A maximum gust of 43 mph from the north was recorded at the Mitchell Municipal Airport just before 3 p.m. Monday.
Throughout the south central part of the state, the South Dakota Department of Transportation reported snow and ice on the roads, creating slushy conditions. Along Interstate 90 between Mitchell and Chamberlain, visibility was limited to a half-mile and down to a quarter-mile at times.
Local law enforcement officials reported slick roads and messy road conditions, which resulted in vehicles and semi-trailers spinning into the ditch and jack-knifing, respectively. In Jones County, conditions were severe enough to cause at least two injury accidents before noon Monday, both on I-90.
“Nobody’s slowing down,” Jones County Sheriff John Weber said.
Weber said what started as rain quickly turned to ice and snow, making the roads treacherous. One person was injured around 2 a.m. near mile marker 197 on I-90 when three semis collided, and another semi came up on the accident and clipped a deputy’s vehicle.
Around 10 a.m., Weber said another person was injured when a semi tipped over near mile marker 186. He did not have any more information, noting Highway Patrol handled the investigations. Calls to Highway Patrol were not immediately returned.
By Monday evening, Weber said about a dozen semis and another dozen cars, vans and pickups had slid off the road.
“It’s been bad,” Weber said. “That’s just so far.”
Snow emergency
In Mitchell, the city began plowing emergency snow routes at 4 p.m. Monday, declaring a snow emergency. Vehicles not removed by 4 p.m. were subject to ticketing and towing. No parking is allowed until the storm is over and the streets are plowed curb to curb. City officials are expected to announce plans for plowing east-west streets today.
Snow alerts have also been issued in area towns, including Chamberlain, Parkston and Wagner and Winner, where plowing was scheduled to start as early as 3 a.m. and called for no parking until the streets were cleared curb to curb.
Masters said that ice problems are typically a fall and early spring problem. But he said the low pressure part of this system started further south between Interstates 70 and 80 and brought warm air with moisture to mix with cooler air.
“We’re usually out of the ice issues by December,” Masters said. “But that warm moist air mixing can make for an icy mess.”
The weather also forced area schools to close early Monday.
The Mitchell School District, John Paul II Elementary and Mitchell Christian School dismissed students at 1:30 p.m. due to the weather.
Mitchell School District Superintendent Joe Graves said the decision to close early was made based on the school’s normal criteria: taking in the condition of the roads and student safety, along with the projections for the weather through the remainder of the day.
“The snow falling on top of the ice wasn’t a huge issue from a traction standpoint,” he said. “We were concerned more with the snow and the blowing winds.”
Graves said buses had to take extra time bringing students home from school but there were no incidents reported.
In other area school districts, late starts had already been called for today’s classes. By 5:30 p.m. Monday, Chamberlain, Colome, Plankinton and Winner all had called for late starts today due to the weather, and other schools followed suit later in the evening.
Power problems
Icy weather also can create power problems.
In Mitchell, the power flickered throughout the morning and caused some traffic lights to briefly go into their flashing modes. Northwestern Energy spokesman Tom Glanzer said the majority of the power issues for their customers came outside of The Daily Republic’s coverage area, in the Yankton and Aberdeen areas.
“It’s going to be a long night and waiting and hoping we can get through this,” he said. “Any time you get the rain and the ice and the wind, and then the snow on top of it, you’re going to have some issues utility-wise,” he said.
Glanzer added that it is important for residents to treat potential downed power lines like they’re live.
“We’re always thinking about safety issues when we have weather like this,” Glanzer said. “It’s important to have a heightened sense of awareness in these situations.”
Xcel Energy reported outages in the Forestburg and Roswell areas on Monday evening.
The wintry weather came just one day after Mitchell reached 56 degrees on Sunday. Monday’s high was 34 degrees. Today should be calmer, with a high of 22 and winds between 8 and 16 mph. Masters said the weather will likely be partly sunny and cold.
