Morning all.

Molly may I inquire as to how you know it must be Thursday. Just because I am never sure, that's all. Usually you guys tell me what day it is.

Sparky are you taking something to boost your immune system? I'm sure you are getting sick because all the changes in weather. Get some vitamin C in ya or something.

Woo, I've got some oj in the fridge. I actually like Flintstones taste!

Yes, we still have snow Woo, here you go.

Deep wet snow, whipped by howling winds, closed highways and cut power to 20,750 homes and businesses in western South Dakota late Tuesday and Wednesday.

“We’re struggling,” Butte County Sheriff Fred Lamphere said late Wednesday afternoon. “We’ve got hundreds of power poles down.”

Butte, Harding and Lawrence counties were hardest hit, according to state emergency management office director Kristi Turman.

More than 40 people had taken refuge in a shelter at the Belle Fourche Area Community Center in Belle Fourche, many of them from Nisland, Newell and other ranching communities, where winds reached 70 mph.

In Harding County in the northwest corner of the state, at least 500 power poles were down. “Harding County power is 100 percent out,” county emergency management director Kathy Glines said.

The real economic losses, however, could come in cows and sheep. Many producers are lambing or calving. “I think we’re going to see some pretty significant losses,” Glines said.

Gov. Mike Rounds agreed during a Wednesday night conference call with reporters.

“We will have losses in the northwestern part of South Dakota,” he said. “That will be a significant impact on the economy out there.”

Rounds said the storm could have been even worse had it come with colder temperatures.

“It has been a very dangerous storm. Thankfully, the temperatures haven’t gone below the high 20s.”

The snowfall was deepest in the northern Black Hills — 46 inches in Deadwood, for example, with drifts of 5 or 6 feet, even on the prairie. Spearfish had 15 to 24 inches of snow, and Belle Fourche reported 12 inches, but the wind made the storm especially destructive.

Deadwood was cut off from Spearfish and Sturgis, Lawrence County emergency management director Paul Thomson said, and the snow was too deep even for four-wheel-drive ambulances.

A Spearfish Volunteer Fire Department search-and-rescue crew couldn’t get through Spearfish Canyon with its rescue snowmobiles to check on a resident who lives alone. “They had to come back and get the Snow Cat,” Thomson said.

Thomson said some residents using bottled oxygen because of respiratory problems faced difficulties operating their pumps if they lost power. “Crews have taken them different oxygen systems or moved them into motels,” he said.

Meade County north of Sturgis was hit almost as hard. Power was out throughout rural Meade County, Sheriff Ron Merwin said. He described poles down on S.D. Highway 79 “as far as the eye could see.” Some residents and travelers took refuge in shelters at the Baptist church and the fire department in Whitewood. Butte Electric Co-op set up a shelter in Newell.

Pennington County, including Rapid City, was less affected by the storm, and in the southern Black Hills, precipitation was so light that a forest fire was burning. Still, power was out in parts of Custer and Pennington counties, and high winds in the Southern Hills knocked down a tree.

Six power companies — five cooperatives and Black Hills Power — were hit by the storm, which knocked down about 1,300 power poles and took out 1,925 miles of power lines.

Barb Zar of Black Hills Power, which serves about 62,000 customers in western South Dakota, said a total of 12,800 customers had lost power since the storm started Tuesday night.

“I don’t think anyone anticipated this much snow,” Zar said Wednesday. “People who have been with our company a really long time are saying they’ve never seen a storm this bad in the Northern Hills.”

She said that the weather was causing even more difficulty for crews trying to get out to fix power lines, which are being weighted down with large amounts of snow and ice, breaking the lines and poles.

The five rural cooperatives affected by the storm were Black Hills Electric in Custer, Butte Electric in Newell, Grand Electric in Bison, LaCreek Electric in Martin and West River Electric Association. About a dozen electric cooperatives from other parts of the state sent crews to help the five cooperatives restore power.

Black Hills Power crews had restored power to all but 2,800 customers by news deadline. The cooperatives collectively had 4,300 customers that remained without power Wednesday night.

Public Utilities Commissioner Bob Sahr said it is difficult to predict when companies would completely restore power. “With some of the snow levels they are getting, you’ve got challenges getting crews out there getting the lines fixed.” He said some people could be without power for several days.

Beth Hermanson, who lives seven miles north of Sturgis in rural Meade County, said Butte Electric told her she could be without power until Sunday.

As of late Wednesday, Interstate 90 between Black Hawk and the Wyoming line remained closed, and no travel was recommended in Lawrence, Butte or Harding counties.

Meanwhile, 105 snowplows were operating in western South Dakota, and Turman said that 40 more Department of Transportation plows were on their way from Pierre.

Those plows will be moving snow that, in semi-arid western South Dakota, is often called “much-needed moisture” no matter what its consequences. That is especially true in formerly parched Harding County, Glines said. “It’s going to be the muddiest, sloppiest mess you’ve ever seen, but we’ve been in drought for so long it’s going to be fun.”

In the high country of Lawrence County, however, Paul Thomson has his eye on another problem. During a conference call with the state Emergency Operations Center in Pierre, Thomson asked the state for sandbags. “That may seem like a weird request in the middle of a blizzard, but guess what’s coming next,” he said.

State officials said Wednesday night that they are planning to ship sandbags to the Black Hills.

Thompson remembers the Mother’s Day Blizzard of 1965, which was followed by rain.

Rain might not be in the forecast, but warm weather is coming, according to the National Weather Service.

Temperatures will be in the lower to mid-40s today in the Northern Hills and in the 50s in Rapid City. Friday will be even warmer, with temperatures in the 60s in both areas. The weekend will warm up even more, jumping to the 60s and low 70s.

yeah, i'm here too.  ma-in-law's surgery canceled because she went to the hospital with heart problems (again).  they will jocky around her meds (again) and send her home today.  she says it's heck getting old.  she's a good lady.  sorry you're still having sucky weather sparky.  sounds like you might have bronchitis.  try using some warm lemon juice and honey to cut the gunk (i'm ot a doctor, but i play one on ffr).  y'allhave a nice day.