Storm hits area

The year’s first significant blizzard saw the Black Hills coated in multiple inches of snow over the weekend. For two days the skies stayed white, leaving behind very different scenes depending on location.

The highest level of snowfall recorded within the storm system was near Johnson Siding in Pennington County, SD, which saw 16 inches fall. Crook County wasn’t far behind in its top measurement, though: in Aladdin, a total of 12 inches piled up on the ground.

Six miles southwest of Beulah, 11 inches were recorded, while Colony and a mile north-northeast of Sundance both got seven inches in total. Five inches fell near Devils Tower.

The lowest recorded snowfall in the county was in Sundance itself, which only endured 2.5 inches of the white stuff.

The National Weather Service reports that the storm system also brought record cold temperatures to the region. Records were set on both October 23 and 24 in downtown Rapid City while, on October 25, the low of 14 degrees broke the old record of 15 set over a century ago in 1919.

Fortunately, temperatures are expected to return to more manageable levels this week, with highs near 50 in the Sundance area forecast until the end of the weekend.