severe weather

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 […]

Wind turbines in Schlewswig, Iowa. (Photo by Christopher A. Jones/Getty Images)

How did renewables fare during Winter Storm Elliott

BY: - January 27, 2023

A day after Christmas, as parts of the country were still digging out from Winter Storm Elliott, the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page, undeterred by the absence of much concrete data, already knew where to cast the blame for rolling blackouts implemented in parts of the South to keep the grid from collapsing.  “While there […]

South Dakota Department of Transportation workers remove an Interstate 90 sign near Salem that was warped and damaged by the May 2022 derecho.

Spring 2022 derecho cost $2.8 billion, NOAA says. Some damage won’t be fixed until 2024.

BY: - January 17, 2023

Crews are still working to clean up damage months after the May 2022 derecho, which swept a roughly 100-mile-wide wall of dust and winds over 100 mph across South Dakota. The derecho damage has a multi-state price tag of $2.8 billion, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information’s newly updated list of billion-dollar disaster […]