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System Brings Western Blizzard, Eastern Tornadoes

A winter storm dumped up to a foot and a half of snow on parts of the Black Hills over the weekend.

The same weather system also spawned a tornado on the eastern side of the state that hit the town of Delmont.     

Jeff Johnson is the Lead Forecaster with the National Weather Service in Rapid City.   

He says both the snowstorm and tornadoes were tied to a very powerful low pressure system.

“A little bit unusual for it to be this late in the season.  We had such a dry March and April that we didn’t see anything in March and April but it certainly did bring an amount of moisture to the Black Hills region and all of western South Dakota and even northeastern Wyoming," says Johnson.

More than 13 inches of snow recorded at the weather office in Rapid City makes this the second biggest May snowstorm on record.  

The record of more than 14 inches was set in 1905.

 A Rapid City Street Department official calls the event a routine spring snowstorm that posted few problems for road crews.