April 25
On this date, April 25, 1984, a major winter storm that killed nearly 30,000 livestock and also spawned thunderstorms and golf ball sized hailstones, began and lasted until April 29, 1984.
Source: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/fsd/?n=fsdtrivia04
A major Spring storm affected the Northern Plains from April 25th through the 29th, 1984. The storm brought heavy snow and strong winds to western South Dakota paralyzing a third of the state for over three days. Snow amounts were heaviest in the northern Black Hills where 67 inches fell at Lead and 44 inches fell at Deadwood. The storm resulted in the loss of large numbers of livestock with, at least, 13,000 cattle and 15,000 sheep falling victim to the storm. The heavy wet snow wreaked havoc with the electricity as 10,000 people were without power at one time or another....some areas north of Rapid City to the North Dakota border were without power for up to 1 and a half days. After the heavy snow...strong winds produced a major blizzard. The storm resulted in several million dollars worth of damage and losses across western South Dakota.
As heavy snow pounded western SD on the 26th thunderstorms ripped across the eastern portion of the state and into northwest Iowa and southwest Minnesota. Two separate lines of storms moved east across the area producing golf ball size hail and winds in excess of 60 mph in some areas. Funnel clouds were sighted near Worthington, MN, but only straight-line wind damage was reported in the area. By April 29th, 1984 the thunderstorms gave way to snow across the tri-state area as 3 to 7 inches blanketed the region.
Todd Epp
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