Severe Thunderstorms in the Central Plains and Lower Missouri Valley; Heat Continues in the Southeast and Southwest

Severe thunderstorms capable of large hail and damaging wind gusts are forecast to impact the central Plains into the Lower Missouri Valley through this afternoon. Dangerous heat persists across the southern Plains, Southeast U.S. and Puerto Rico this week, and will return to the Southwest today. Read More >

According to the American Meteorological Society Glossary of Meteorology, a heat burst is a "localized, sudden increase in surface temperature associated with a thunderstorm, shower, or mesoscale convective system, often accompanied by extreme drying."

Indeed, several Mesonet weather stations just northwest of Mobridge, SD (including the Mahto SDSU and McLaughlin+Trail City RWIS stations) recorded sudden increases in temperature and decreases in humidity, along with spikes in wind gusts from 10 pm Friday to 1 am Saturday morning. Notably, the Mahto station rose ~15 degrees in 20 minutes peaking at 96 degrees at 11 pm, and gusted to 62 mph just before at 10:55 pm. Showers falling into the right environment led to this fairly rare phenomenon. See the slides below for more details.

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Severe Thunderstorms in the Central Plains and Lower Missouri Valley; Heat Continues in the Southeast and Southwest

Heat Burst Observed Friday Night