Blizzard

An apartment complex on the Rosebud Reservation has drifts of snow blocking the doors and windows on Dec. 27, 2022. (Joshua Haiar/SD Searchlight)

SD school districts find compromise between snow days and online learning post-COVID

BY: - April 26, 2023

Whether they sleep with a spoon under their pillow or turn their pajamas inside out – two rituals purported to bring about a snow day – South Dakota students haven’t lost the magic of a serendipitous day off from school. And if school districts across the state have anything to say about it, they’ll always […]

An apartment complex on the Rosebud Reservation has drifts of snow blocking the doors and windows on Dec. 27, 2022. (Joshua Haiar/SD Searchlight)

Disaster declarations for tribes land as two-part storm looms

BY: - February 21, 2023

President Joe Biden declared major disasters for two tribal communities in South Dakota on Tuesday for a pair of deadly December storms.  News of the declarations for the Rosebud and Oglala Sioux tribes arrived as snowflakes began to fall in the first of two more winter storms expected to blanket the state. This week’s storms […]

Wayne Boyd, chief of staff to the president of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, reflects on recent winter storms while helping with the storm response from his office on Dec. 27, 2022. (Joshua Haiar/SD Searchlight)

Rosebud officials say at least six dead as tribe digs out from storms

BY: and - December 28, 2022

ROSEBUD RESERVATION — Rosebud tribal officials say at least six people have died as a result of two winter storms that partially buried homes across the reservation, and some people remain trapped at home more than two weeks after the first snow fell. The fatalities included a 12-year-old boy with health problems who couldn’t be […]

The view from O.J. Semans' rural Mission home during two rounds of extreme winter weather in December 2022. (Courtesy of O.J. Semans)

Rosebud Tribe struggles to clear roads as blizzard contributes to at least one death

BY: and - December 23, 2022

The situation is grim on the Rosebud Reservation after two rounds of severe winter weather pummeled the area, contributing to at least one death. Many people remain snowed-in and some have run out of propane for their furnaces, causing tribal residents to fear there may be more deaths from the cold. Wayne Boyd, chief of […]

Conditions on Interstate 90 on Dec. 22, 2022, between Wall and Rapid City. (Photo courtesy of Pennington County Sheriff's Office)

Governor activates Guard for firewood mission to Rosebud Reservation

BY: - December 22, 2022

Members of the South Dakota National Guard are hauling available firewood from the Black Hills National Forest to the Rosebud Reservation, pursuant to an executive order from Gov. Kristi Noem declaring an emergency related to ongoing winter storms in the state. The Noem administration announced the order Thursday night in a news release. “My administration […]

(Image courtesy of SD Department of Transportation)

I-90 closes from Rapid City to Chamberlain

BY: - December 21, 2022

A closure on Interstate 90 (both eastbound and westbound) from Rapid City (Box Elder exit 67) to Chamberlain began at 6 p.m. Mountain, 7 p.m. Central on Wednesday due to snow and high winds causing blizzard-like conditions, according to the state Department of Transportation. In addition to the I-90 closure, motorists are reminded that many […]

COMMENTARY
Snow piles up under an interstate bridge during a December 2022 winter storm in South Dakota. (Photo courtesy of SD Department of Transportation)

Blizzard therapy: Find solace in reading about storms that were even worse

BY: - December 15, 2022

What better is there to do during a four-day snowstorm than to think about past snowstorms? “Blizzard therapy” is what author Carey Goldberg called such behavior after he read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “The Long Winter” during a 2015 snowstorm. My blizzard therapy caused me to stumble across several little-known historical writings.  One comes from the […]