Hill City year round (Rapid City, Custer: to live, moving, car)

[texasmick]

i come to hill city every summer and would like to know whats its really like year round. In the winter are many roads shut down ? can you get to deadwood the back way or do you have to go into rapid city and hit the interstate ? what are the spring and fall like and what do the locals do year round. being i live in a city of millions just curious to what life is like there on any normal day. have met lots of locals and all were freindly and enjoy the time i get to spend there
Mick in Houston

[Jammie]

Hi Mick, there's not a lot I can tell you specifically about Hill City since I live in the southeastern part of the state. But it is beautiful out there, isn't it? The past two winters have been absolutely beautiful compared to what is a "normal" winter. We had very little snow and very little cold. The Hills got hit with a late spring snowstorm and a lot of the roads, including the interstate shut down for a day or so. If I remember correctly, they had about 17 inches of snow that time. We have summers that have hot days, but we don't have the humdity that the Southern states have. The Hills can get quite cool at night, even in the summertime. Autumn is a beautiful time of year with the trees turning golden and the cool, crisp air, but also fairly warm days. Springtime is absolutely beautiful with the flowers blooming and the trees budding out. Winter is the season you need to be aware of. SD can get very cold temps and a lot of snow. I believe the average snowfall for my area is 30 inches of snow per year. We've had times where for three weeks straight we didn't get above 0 degrees. The nights would run about -25 and the days would warm up to -10, but then it warms up a bit again. Our record high temp in the state is 116 and our record low is -50 and that's without the windchill. We do have a lot of friendly people in our state and are quite close to the Southern hospitality. I wasn't sure what you meant by asking what people do out there in the winter. There are a lot of snowmobilers and skiiers that live out there. Fortunately, we're planning a short trip to the Hills the last week of August. For the first time in our lives we're going to Deadwood's Kool Summer Nights. One of my fave groups will be playing there, the Grass Roots. Bobby Vee will also be there. If you have any general questions about SD, let me know and hopefully I can help you out a bit.

[Jammie]

For some reason I posted that they received 17 inches of snow for their late spring storm. It was actually 70 inches.

[ElkHunter]

First off Jammie, the year they got 70 was a very unusual year. haha

I used to live not too far from Hill city. The only road I've seen closed was the road to Deerfield because once you get out of town there's two problems. One, it's a canyon that the wind howls down. Two, you get a little farther and it's flat for a ways and snow howls in there too.

But, Hill City gets hit but not bad. Things still move. Now if your moving there with your Mazda, expect to get stuck. haha The snow gets up to 6 or 7 inchs from time to time. If you are patient, the plows will be out in a couple of hours.

As for Deadwood. Hill City is located on Hwy 385. Deadwood is located on Hwy 385. Why on earth would you run into Rapid City? It's a straight shot and it's an excellent highway.

Jim

[Jammie]

First off, Guzzler, the year they received seventy inches of snow was last spring. The only thing that was unusual about our weather last year was that it was a very nice winter compared to most. My local weather station broadcasts the weather that's going on in the Hills so that is one thing I'm aware of.

[ElkHunter]

Jammie,

I salute you for surviving the tough SD winters. I say that sincerly. Not as a hit. I spent 20+ years in SD and really have a appreciation for the winters I used to indurr. But now I live in Wyoming, up against the Big Horns. Our winters are tough.

But no, you are correct. SD has some bad ones. Not always good, but always fun. You can't tell me you haven't went out sledding. Having fun. May have been without electricity, power in the form of gas. But it didn't stop you from having fun.

It's really strange. We go out and climb up one drift and slid down and then go up the next drift, and slide down. Then we tell all our friends what trouble we had. The next week, we tell everybody we went up one drift and then slid down and started up the next drift, it was so much fun....

Jammie, I'm not your adversary. Crap, I spelled that right. hahahahaha

[ElkHunter]

By the way. Mike Modrick is a very good friend of mine. I've written him several time. Mike, you missed this one. hahahahaha We understand each other. My job in the Navy was to predict weather. I fully understand that Mike has a tough job.

[MrMarple]

**** Hill City has a good deal of elevation so it gets much more snow than say Rapid City. You've been there before so you know it's a great little town with beautiful scenery and some nice watering holes. It does get some temperature inversions so in winter can warm up ever more than Rapid on occasions. Still, it is South Dakota so if it's winter, be prepared.

Jammie: I'm sure you'll have lots of fun at Deadwood's Kool Summer Nights. I went back in the 90's and it featured Rare Earth amongst others. Had a great time.

Marp

[ElkHunter]

Let's put it in perspective. The largest snow accumulation in the State of South Dakota was recorded 3 miles East of Custer. 23 inches of snow. That's in recorded history, so it's going back many many years. That was recorded in April of 2001.

[Jim Cheek]

boy does this bring back memories. I lived in Rapid City from 67 to 77 and my daughter lives there now. I remember the blizzards when we could not open our front door, climbing upon the roof to thaw the furnance vent pipe so we could light our furnance. I remember being snowned in for 3 days and having a 3 - day party. Good times, good memories.

I also remember driving in a snow storm and my car stopping, investigation revealed my entire engine compartment was full of snow.