A powerful, moist winter storm buried the Yankton area under heavy snow Tuesday.
Yankton received a total of 12.5 inches of snow from the storm, most of which fell overnight and early Tuesday. The snow was accompanied by sleet, freezing drizzle, freezing fog and winds gusting up to 35 miles per hour. Yankton also experienced “thunder snow,” with several cracks of thunder heard overnight.
That snowfall included 5 inches recorded as of 6 a.m. Tuesday, which set a new record for Jan. 3. The previous mark was 4 inches set in 1926.
The Wednesday total of 7.5 inches also set a new record, besting the old mark of 4 inches recorded in 1910.
The city also measured a total of .78 of precipitation as of 6 a.m. Wednesday
Some area snowfall totals reported by Sioux Falls television station KELO included: Lake Andes, 27 inches; Armour, 25; Pickstown, 19; Tyndall, 12.8; Sioux Falls, 12.5; Irene, 7.5; and Elk Point, 5.5.
A winter weather advisory remained in effect for the region until 6 p.m. Wednesday.
The City of Yankton declared a snow emergency as of noon Tuesday.
“On all other city streets, residents are strongly encouraged to move vehicles to off-street parking spots to allow the crews to quickly and more efficiently plow from curb to curb,” the city said in a social media post.
Also, the Yankton Department of Public Works reminded residents to shovel their sidewalks.
“Students and other pedestrians rely on these sidewalks for safe passage,” according to a press release. “City Ordinances require homeowners to remove snow and ice within 24 hours after any snowfall.”
Many schools in the area canceled classes Tuesday, and numerous businesses closed for the day.
Also, Tuesday’s Yankton County Commission meeting was postponed to 6 p.m. Thursday.
• The Yankton School District has canceled classes for Wednesday.
• Andes Central, Armour, Bon Homme, Centerville, Freeman Public, Freeman Academy, Gayville-Volin, Irene-Wakonda, Marion, Menno, Parker, Parkston, Platte-Geddes, Scotland, Tripp-Delmont, Viborg-Hurley and Wagner have also called off classes for Wednesday.
• Beresford, Alcester-Hudson and Elk Point-Jefferson schools will have a two-hour late start Wednesday.
• The Bloomfield at Hartington-Newcastle basketball doubleheader, scheduled for Tuesday, was postponed to Thursday, Jan. 5.
• The Alcester-Hudson at Avon basketball doubleheader, scheduled for Tuesday, was postponed to Saturday, Jan. 7.
• The Irene-Wakonda at Freeman basketball doubleheader, scheduled for Tuesday, was postponed to Saturday, Jan. 7.
• The Wynot at Wausa basketball doubleheader, scheduled for Tuesday, was postponed to Jan. 9.
• The Canistota at Elk Point-Jefferson boys’ basketball game, scheduled for Tuesday, was postponed to Jan. 10.
• The Santee at Boyd County basketball doubleheader, scheduled for Tuesday, was postponed to Jan. 16.
• The Gayville-Volin at Scotland basketball doubleheader, scheduled for Tuesday, was postponed to Jan. 19.
• The Niobrara-Verdigre at Neligh-Oakdale basketball doubleheader, scheduled for Tuesday, was postponed to Jan. 26.
• The Elk Point-Jefferson at West Central girls’ basketball game, scheduled for Tuesday, was postponed to Feb. 13.
• The Andes Central-Dakota Christian at Gregory basketball doubleheader, scheduled for Tuesday, was postponed to Feb. 14.
• Tuesday contests with no makeup dates set included the Centerville at Marty basketball doubleheader, the Freeman Academy-Marion at Oldham-Ramona-Rutland basketball doubleheader in Ramona, the Osmond-Randolph at Hartington Cedar Catholic basketball doubleheader and the Ponca at Crofton basketball doubleheader.
• The Charles Mix County Courthouse in Lake Andes will be closed Wednesday.
• The Hutchinson County Courthouse in Olivet will open at noon Wednesday.
(3) comments
Ain't global Warming Great? Without it--you would of gotten 22" Let's have a hard winter so kids can remember the Good old Days.
Oh, Larry!! Don't you know they call it Climate Change so that any extraordinary weather can be blamed in it?? Wonder what factors caused the blizzard of '68 before there was such an agenda??
HAHAHAHA yea Amazing isn't it? Fact is we have to have these big snows to break the drought. Just as California has to have lot of rain/snow in mountains to fill everything up. Now with all the tiling farmers have done to drain everything they need 1/2 again as much water to meet needs. Mother nature made potholes for reason
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