Late winter storm wallops region

A midweek storm last week caused temperature drops of more than 40 degrees in part of Crook County, bringing bitter cold as well as several inches of snow.

The snow mostly began to fall across the Black Hills and parts of western South Dakota and northeast Wyoming before widespread snow moved across the area the next day, on February 21. This continued until Wednesday, with snowfall amounts between six and 12 inches across the area.

While the winds were not especially strong during this storm, gusts of up to 45 mph were recorded, causing the snow to blow and drift and creating whiteout conditions that made travel tricky. Maximum recorded wind gusts in Crook County were 34 mph.

Temperatures were mild during the beginning stages on Monday, before an arctic cold front moved south and caused them to plummet. The north of Crook County saw a temperature drop of 41 degrees during this time, with a 40-degree plunge to the west and 38 degrees to the south.

Wind chill temperatures were as low as -45 degrees in some areas of the storm. Minimum air temperatures on Thursday morning, the coldest point of the storm, was -20 degrees to the south of the county.

Recorded snow falls within the county, according to the National Weather Service, were 8.5 inches in Sundance and five inches southwest of Beulah. Downtown Gillette saw the heaviest snowfall at 17 inches.