HURON, SD (Mitchell Now) — The National Weather Service has confirmed that one tornado hit Huron on Thursday, July 2nd.
Researchers have determined that an EF1 twister was on the ground between 4:56 and 5:01 p.m. It tracked parallel to Highway 14 for about 2.5 miles clipping the south end of Ravine Lake and passing over the James River. The tornado dissipated around Custer Avenue. The tornado did not cause most of the damage suffered in the city. With only intermittent ground circulation, its 90 mph winds weren’t concentrated enough to tear down well-built structures. NWS believes it only impacted one outbuilding and caused some tree limbs to break off.
At 5:03 p.m., the Huron Airport registered straight-line winds howling at 105 mph. The gusty wind was associated with a severe thunderstorm that barreled through and left destruction in its wake. It caused roof damage to several buildings between Market Street and 15th Street on the north side of Huron. Winds also uprooted trees and pulled down power lines in the city.
Huron School District was impacted. Tiger Stadium and the grass soccer field next door are closed indefinitely after one of the four light poles at the facility was blown down. The district said in a Facebook update on Monday that there is significant damage to the sidewalk, track, artificial turf, fencing, and general electric infrastructure of the athletic facilities. The district is still trying to determine the extent of the damage to the three other light poles at the stadium. There is no word yet if games will be able to be played there beginning in August or if the schedule would need to be adjusted to allow for more day games due to the lighting situation.
Clean up from the storms is still ongoing across the city.