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Excessive Rainfall in the Southern Plains; Extreme Heat Coming to the Southwest U.S.

Heavy to severe thunderstorms may bring areas of excessive rainfall and flooding over parts of the southern Plains through Friday. A Slight Risk of excessive rainfall has been issued. Dangerously hot temperatures are forecast across parts of southern Arizona and far southeastern California Saturday through Monday. An Extreme Heat Watch has been issued. Read More >

 

2013 South Dakota Tornadoes

Below is a plot of the tornadoes which occurred in South Dakota in 2013 (click to enlarge):

Below is a brief summary of the 2013 tornado season:

·         2013 was a relatively quiet year with only 14 tornadoes reported across the State

·         Here is the breakdown of 2013 tornadoes by EF-Scale:

o   EF0 = 11

o   EF1 = 3

o   EF2 = 0

o   EF3 = 0

o   EF4 = 0

o   EF5 = 0

·         South Dakota averages about 35 tornadoes per year (based on 2001-2010 data)

·         South Dakota has now seen a below average number of tornadoes since 2010 (click to enlarge)

 

Below is the 10 year total of tornado fatalities by state (2001-2010):

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/wcm/ustormaps/2001-2010-fatals.png

 

Fortunately – South Dakota has not had a directly related tornado death since 1999!  Hopefully that trend continues for years to come!