State officials are closing off portions of South Dakota interstates as a powerful winter storm moves through the region.
The state Department of Transportation closed Interstate 29 from Watertown to the North Dakota border Tuesday afternoon. Interstate 90 from Rapid City to Wall has been closed since Monday night. The stretch of I-90 from Rapid City to the Wyoming border was previously closed due to the blizzard, but reopened Tuesday afternoon.
Nearly all of western, central, and northeastern South Dakota is under a blizzard warning Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.
Gov. Kristi Noem ordered state offices closed in dozens of counties Tuesday. Many school districts and universities in the affected areas are also closed.
Heavy snow will continue today and slowly decrease tonight. However, winds will increase this afternoon and remain strong through Wed, so blowing snow will continue even after the snow is done falling. If you don't need to travel today, stay home! #sdwx #wywx pic.twitter.com/2YKUA2Sxs8
— NWS Rapid City (@NWSRapidCity) April 4, 2023
NWS forecasters say some areas parts of the Black Hills have already received upwards of a foot of snow. Another 8"-12" is expected across much of northeastern and central South Dakota Tuesday, with potentially even higher amounts in the northern Black Hills.
While snowfall will decrease overnight, the NWS said blowing snow will continue to impact driving conditions into Wednesday.
“You’re going to start to see snow taper off west to east a little bit, even a couple of lulls in there too, but some extra bands of maybe quarter-of-an-inch, one-inch an hour snowfall rates that could develop over especially northeastern South Dakota as we move into the later afternoon into the overnight hours tonight,” said National Weather Service Aberdeen meteorologist Kari Fleegel.
The DOT and Highway Patrol are advising people against travel in areas impacted by the storm.
Weather resources
- Rapid City National Weather Service forecast center
- Aberdeen NWS forecast center
- Sioux Falls NWS forecast center
- Check the latest road conditions in South Dakota here
State offices in the following counties are closed Tuesday: Beadle, Bennett, Brown, Brule, Buffalo, Butte, Campbell, Corson, Custer, Dewey, Edmonds, Fall River, Faulk, Haakon, Hand, Harding, Hughes, Jackson, Jerauld, Jones, Lawrence, Lyman, McPherson, Meade, Mellette, Oglala Lakota, Pennington, Perkins, Potter, Spink, Stanley, Sully, Todd, Tripp, Walworth, Ziebach, Clark, Day, Grant, Marshall, and Roberts.
