Particularly Dangerous Severe‑Wind Watch Issued for South Dakota After Storms Produce 70–80 mph Gusts

Overview

• The NWS Storm Prediction Center issued a PDS Severe Thunderstorm Watch (No. 513) for central and eastern South Dakota on Saturday, citing likely widespread damaging winds and scattered gusts up to 100 mph.
• Operational observations in the Sioux Falls area recorded severe gusts of 70–80 mph on Saturday as a convective cluster intensified and organized into a fast, bowing line.
• That convective cluster moved east and prompted downstream Severe Thunderstorm Watch 515 for northwest Iowa and southwest Minnesota, with forecasters warning of possible 75–90 mph corridor gusts and isolated large hail.
• The Weather Prediction Center issued multiple Mesoscale Precipitation Discussions highlighting separate corridors of intense convective rainfall with 2–3 inch‑per‑hour rates and isolated flash‑flood risk from the Midwest to the Southeast and parts of the Desert Southwest.
• Forecasters said the outbreak was driven by extreme instability, abundant low‑level moisture, steep lapse rates and mesoscale forcing, and that gust fronts and redevelopment could prolong wind and heavy‑rain hazards with likely power outages and damage to trees and structures.