4.19.00 Rapid City, SD

4.19.00
Rapid City, South Dakota

I woke up to 8 inches of snow outside with much more (12 inches) on the way. Blizzard conditions were taking out power all over the Black Hills, and by 10:30 am, my power was out as well. I figured I would do some reading, so I hopped into bed to continue reading Howard Bluestein's, Tornado Alley, Monster Storms of the Great Plains. After getting through a couple of pages, I heard a rumbling sound. That sounded like thunder!!! My wife heard it too, but we wrote it off as a tree falling since this was occurring all over town. I even got up and looked at the trees around our house and saw nothing unusual. I went back to reading....Boom!!! Okay, that was not a tree...that was thunder!!! We were experiencing thundersnow!

The chase is on...but first a disclaimer.

I have been earnestly awaiting this year's chase season. Frequently suffering from Storm Deprivation Syndrome, my judgment can sometimes become questionable. This is an account of such desperation.

Given that my chase vehicle would become stuck in minutes, my only alternative was to take to the skis. I hastily threw on my winter clothes, strapped on my cross country skis and headed out. My target...east 1/2 mile, to the end of my street. I made good time to the end of my road arriving in approximately 10 minutes. Skies were, well...white to the east. Same to the north, south and west. Visibility was 1/4 of a mile and winds were northerly at 40 knots with gusts to 50. No cloud features were visible. I needed data!!! So I headed back westbound for home. Upon arriving home, I found that the power was still out...no data!!! No more thunder either. My chase was over.

Total mileage...1 mile