Western South Dakota
A few cities include: Faith, Kadoka and Rapid City.
Local tornado season: Tends to peak in June.
Terrain: Plains north, hills, forests and badlands south.
Road network: Sparse in most areas.
Radar coverage: Good in southwestern South Dakota, limited/poor elsewhere.
Western South Dakota is not necessarily known for tornadoes. Storm chasers venturing to the area may have a good shot at seeing a photogenic supercell, but, on average, only about 2-3 days per year will feature a bona fide tornado threat in western South Dakota. The most well organized supercells can produce large to sometimes very large hail in this region. Damaging winds are not as common as areas farther southeast, but sometimes outflow dominant storms can produce strong wind gusts in the area.
Terrain
The terrain across parts of western South Dakota can be quite challenging for storm chasers. The Black Hills in southwestern South Dakota are virtually unchaseable, but the flip side is that the terrain influence can lead to supercell development immediately east of the hills.
While the Black Hills are heavily forested, locations to the southeast also feature quite a bit of trees. The Badlands is another unique geographical area that is next to impossible to storm chase in, due to the unique terrain.
Northern parts of western South Dakota are more favorable in terms of terrain for storm chasing. The area is relatively flat outside of far northwestern South Dakota, where there are hills and dense forests around residual badlands. The Missouri River increases in width as it passes from central into north-central South Dakota. Forming lakes and large branches, it can sometimes get in the way if a storm is moving into the area.
Note that Native American reservations make up a large chunk of north-central and southwestern South Dakota. In these reservations, road networks, internet/cell phone data coverage and other services can be limited or non-existent.
Road network
The road network across western South Dakota is relatively sparse and inconsistent. Southwestern South Dakota has the greatest density of roads, but with forests and hills around, the roads can be quite curvy. This can make staying with a storm a major challenge, unless the storm is moving at a relatively slow speed. The Badlands might be a breathtaking area to photograph a storm, but the area is not easily navigated with limited, irregular road patterns.
Elsewhere in western South Dakota, roads are spread out with large gaps. Many secondary roads are dirt and, in some cases, one might have to drive on a dirt road for a long distance of 25 or more miles just to get to the next paved road.
As rough as the road network is, it can be managed. This is especially the case if you are willing to view storms from a distance. Getting close to a storm can be difficult to achieve in western South Dakota and to make matter worse; it could be downright dangerous if there is no reliable escape route.
I-90 is the only freeway that passes through the area, extending eastward from Rapid City and westward into Wyoming. However, with a speed limit of 80 MPH east of Rapid City, I-90 help get you quickly get to your destination.
Radar coverage
KUDX is the main radar site that provides coverage across the area, centered over southwestern South Dakota. KLNX offers some limited coverage to far south-central South Dakota, while KBIS provides far northern areas with some data as well. Otherwise, northwestern South Dakota is a gap in coverage. The only remedy there is that North Dakota’s Water Commission has a radar site out of Bowman, ND, which can lend some limited data to far northwestern South Dakota.
Central South Dakota, particularly near the Missouri River, also suffers from limited to poor radar coverage. Even near South Dakota’s Capital city, Pierre, radar coverage is limited at best.
In summary, western South Dakota can be storm chased, but don’t expect a lot of tornadoes. The road network is challenging, terrain can be an issue and expect limited radar coverage outside of southwestern South Dakota.