Tornadoes (Brookings, Mitchell, Sturgis: tornado, live, moving)

[Jammie]

No 'tornado alley' in S.D., but some differences between east, west |* The Daily Republic *| Mitchell, South Dakota

The online version of my local paper has an interesting article about tornadoes. The actual newspaper has a map and I wish it'd be on the online one. Most of us have always believed that southeastern So. Dak. is the hot spot and the RC area has very few. Not so according to the tornado map. SO, I don't understand the reason for naming the article this, but......

[eric#1]

I lived between Sturgis and Lead most of my life -- never saw a single tornado. Lived in
Brooking for a 5 Years and saw 3..

[Jammie]

You must've been a tornado magnet those 5 years.

Meade Co. is a lot larger then Brookings Co., but according to the map, Meade Co. had 38 reported tornadoes and Brookings Co. had 24 reported tornadoes. That's not too bad considering it's sightings since 1950.

[DannyBanany]

Lived in Pennington County for 19 years and I've never seen a tornado. Been through a tornado warning once and it lasted 5 minutes.

[Jammie]

I wish that map would've been on the online article. Since 1950, Pennington has had 40 spotted tornadoes. Over on this side~Charles Mix had 42. I was looking for a county of comparable size in my area, but they're all quite a bit smaller in land area. Charles Mix is about the closest in size that I could find.

I've lived here 53 years and fortunately, I've never seen one either. Not yet anyway.

Brown Co. in northeastern So. Dak. appears to have the most with 76. It's a pretty decent sized county though. Custer Co. appears to be the lowest with 9. Not too bad for nearly 60 years.

[diverdan]

They aren't as common or large as some further south but I have seen a couple on the prairie NE of Ellsworth. Watched one from the parking lot of Pizza Hut in Box Elder one evening. Also while working N of New Underwood saw the aftermath the day after one hit a neighbors yard. These would have all been in Meade Cty.

I believe the only documented sighting of a tornado in the Black Hills was out on Sheridan Lake road sometime in the 70s.

[DannyBanany]

Pennington County also has a large area and is heavily populated compared to rural counties out east. Maybe that's why the numbers are comparable.

[ashnat]

In Lincoln and Omaha we had tornado's all the time. I've only seen/heard one here by Rapid since moving here, in Aug 2 years ago when Hermosa flooded.

[EHale]

Southern And Eastern South Dakota have a higher concentration of tornadoes annually

[no8fann]

Originally Posted by DannyBanany

Lived in Pennington County for 19 years and I've never seen a tornado. Been through a tornado warning once and it lasted 5 minutes.

Man, things have changed then! I remember ducking for cover a LOT in the 10 or so years I lived there! We were either making a run for town or the base, depending on which way it was coming! We didn't have a basement, and my mother HATED tornadoes!