De Smet (Sioux Falls, Arlington, Lake Preston: for sale, new home, high school)

[calicocutie]

Other than knowing De Smet has something to do with Laura Ingalls of Little House fame I really don't know much about it. What is the weather like-cold and snowy winters and not humid in the summer? What about tornadoes? Is it a safe town? Is there a good hospital nearby-one with a VA clinic? My husband is a disabled vet and a VA clinic is important to us. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks

[DaninEGF]

Originally Posted by calicocutie

Other than knowing De Smet has something to do with Laura Ingalls of Little House fame I really don't know much about it. What is the weather like-cold and snowy winters and not humid in the summer? What about tornadoes? Is it a safe town? Is there a good hospital nearby-one with a VA clinic? My husband is a disabled vet and a VA clinic is important to us. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks

Being the weather guy in the area....there is a cooperative weather station in De Smet with data since 1948. Here is a link to data for that station...with a start at average temp/pcpn. Here in the plains averages are just that "averages", made up of extremes. It is fairly humid from late June into August....often though the humid stretches are broken briefly by drier air coming southward from Canada.

DE SMET, SD - Climate Summary

I did a query of tornadoes listed in the official storm database since 1950 for Kingsbury county where De Smet is located. Most recent in 2003. That area is on the northern end of tornado alley and from mid May through September severe weather and tornadoes can occur of course in most cases there is plenty of warning ahead of time.


1 KINGSBURY 06/16/1959 2200 Tornado F0 0 0 0K 0
2 KINGSBURY 06/21/1961 1600 Tornado F3 0 0 250K 0
3 KINGSBURY 05/16/1962 2000 Tornado F1 0 0 0K 0
4 KINGSBURY 08/14/1966 2000 Tornado F1 0 0 3K 0
5 KINGSBURY 04/30/1967 1515 Tornado F1 0 0 0K 0
6 KINGSBURY 05/30/1970 2215 Tornado F0 0 0 0K 0
7 KINGSBURY 06/04/1971 2005 Tornado F0 0 0 0K 0
8 KINGSBURY 07/19/1976 1730 Tornado F1 0 0 250K 0
9 KINGSBURY 09/24/1977 1500 Tornado F1 0 0 250K 0
10 KINGSBURY 06/05/1984 2220 Tornado F1 0 0 3K 0
11 KINGSBURY 05/11/1985 1751 Tornado F0 0 0 0K 0
12 KINGSBURY 05/11/1985 1808 Tornado F0 0 0 0K 0
13 KINGSBURY 05/11/1985 1840 Tornado F0 0 0 0K 0
14 KINGSBURY 06/14/1991 1925 Tornado F0 0 0 0K 0
15 KINGSBURY 06/16/1992 1535 Tornado F3 0 0 2.5M 0
16 KINGSBURY 06/16/1992 1537 Tornado F0 0 0 0K 0
17 De Smet 07/24/1997 08:46 PM Tornado F0 0 0 0 0
18 Erwin 07/24/1997 09:10 PM Tornado F0 0 0 0 0
19 Lake Preston 07/24/1997 10:30 PM Tornado F0 0 0 2K 0
20 Lake Preston 07/24/1997 10:45 PM Tornado F0 0 0 0 0
21 Lake Preston 05/30/1998 07:02 PM Tornado F0 0 0 0 0
22 Arlington 07/11/2000 04:16 PM Tornado F0 0 0 0 0
23 Arlington 07/11/2000 04:36 PM Tornado F0 0 0 0 0
24 Lake Preston 07/28/2002 12:41 PM Tornado F0 0 0 0 0
25 Lake Preston 07/28/2002 12:55 PM Tornado F0 0 0 10K 0
26 Esmond 06/24/2003 06:27 PM Tornado F0 0 0 0 0
27 Esmond 06/24/2003 06:29 PM Tornado F4 0 4 3.0M 0
28 Manchester 06/24/2003 06:52 PM Tornado F0 0 0 0 0
29 Manchester 06/24/2003 06:58 PM Tornado F2 0 0 200K 0
30 De Smet 06/24/2003 07:05 PM Tornado F1 0 0 0 0
31 De Smet 06/24/2003 07:17 PM Tornado F0 0 0 0 0
32 De Smet 06/24/2003 07:19 PM Tornado F0 0 0 0 0
33 De Smet 06/24/2003 07:20 PM Tornado F1 0 0 0 0
34 De Smet 06/24/2003 07:28 PM Tornado F0 0 0 0 0
35 De Smet 06/24/2003 07:32 PM Tornado F0 0 0 0 0
36 De Smet 06/24/2003 09:13 PM Tornado F1 0 0 0 0
37 Lake Preston 05/02/2006 05:19 PM Tornado F1 0 0 50K 0
38 Iroquois 08/24/2006 06:56 PM Tornado F0 0 0 0 0

For the other info you taked about I will leave that to someone else..I have never been there myself but am familiar with weather in the area.

Dan

[Jammie]

http://www.city-data.com/city/De-Smet-South-Dakota.html

HI Cali. There's a bit of info on DeSmet on this website. Hopefully someone from that area will come along. I'm kind of wondering if Sioux Falls wouldn't be the nearest place with a VA hospital. It'd be about 100 miles away.

You're right. The book Little Town On The Prairie was written by Laura when their family lived in DeSmet. They always used to have a Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant throughout the summer and we've thought of going several times. Not sure if they still do that or not.

As far as weather, Dan's got that covered and we're so lucky to have him here.

[BusySocialWorker]

well this is an easy one for me - I was born and raised in DeSmet

Its a very nice town for example my high school graduating class 11 years ago was 32 students (it may even be a big smaller now)

Hospital wise - DeSmet has a small community hosiptal and several doctors. My grandfather who lives there is a VA patient and he has to travel to Sioux Falls (2 hours) for his care.

DeSmet has a small local mainstreet with shops and a grocery store, but for real shopping, watertown (1 hour) is the best bet, followed by Sioux Falls (2 hours). There is a golf course and country club, pool, and several local restaruants and recently on my last few trips back they have added a subway and dairy queen to town.

Its a very safe town - weatherwise you get a pretty good look at it from Dan's post - we go back several times a year (once at christmas and once in the summer) and the weather is pretty typical east river winter / summer weather - there are of course thunderstorms and tornado watches / warnings that pop up from time to time, but nothing I ever considered out of the ordinary.

I know there are many homes for sale in the town as the population ages, and many of the younger folks (docs especially) are building very nice new homes.

Please let me know any specifics you would like and I can fill you in!