severe weather
Severe weather becoming larger factor for concert-goers, fair director says
SIOUX FALLS — Insurance coverage allowed South Dakota’s most well-attended fair to avoid the sting of financial loss in 2023. Sioux Empire Fair Director Scott Wick told Minnehaha County commissioners on Tuesday that a severe weather shutdown on two separate days could have tanked the fair’s profitability, but a $313,000 insurance payout and strong attendance […]
SD school districts find compromise between snow days and online learning post-COVID
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 […]
‘Always in emergency mode’: Tribe partners with national groups on food security, disaster prep
About 90 inmates at the Roberts County Jail in northeastern South Dakota didn’t have food in mid-December this winter. The jail relies on weekly truck deliveries from over 50 miles away, but back-to-back blizzards dropped roughly 18 inches of snow on the region, closed the interstate and left kitchen staff stranded in their homes. “Any […]
Disaster declarations for tribes land as two-part storm looms
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 […]
How did renewables fare during Winter Storm Elliott
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 […]
Spring 2022 derecho cost $2.8 billion, NOAA says. Some damage won’t be fixed until 2024.
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 […]