Historic winter storm leads to widespread closures, no-travel advisory

Despite being known as a “storm chaser,” Aj Towne wasn’t venturing out today.

“I’ve only been out in my driveway,” said Towne, founder of Tea Storm Chasers, a digital breaking news organization that focuses on severe weather.

“I was out shoveling, snow blowing, and it was high. That’s for sure. Definitely a lot of snow and a lot of moisture-filled snow. It was heavy.”

Sioux Falls has received more than a foot of snow in the latest burst of winter weather, leading to the first snow-related no-travel advisory in the city since 2018, Towne said.

“We had one person out driving in it last night, but that’s it,” he said. “I have one that works three blocks from home, and she turned around and went home. Otherwise, it’s scanner traffic we’ve been relying on, social media posts, radar data and road reports. I plan on going out tomorrow, but it’s not worth trying to go now and do anything now.”

Closures were widespread, including the Sioux Falls Regional Airport, The Empire Mall, Sanford clinics, Target and nearly every restaurant.

“I don’t recall a time seeing (all) these places shut down,” Towne said.

In Minnehaha and Lincoln counties, deputies were getting stuck while patrolling and responding to calls.

“Highway 11 was really bad. Visibility was a huge concern,” Towne said. “We even heard scanner traffic like, ‘I can’t see the front of my hood,’ and that was deputies out responding to calls, putting themselves at risk. The dispatchers were concerned too, and it was great to hear their partnership. They kept reiterating to be safe out there.”

The good news: So far power outages have been nearly nonexistent, and winds are settling down. People also seemed to be adhering to the advisories.

“People were prepared for it,” Towne said. “We started really pushing on Saturday and Sunday to be prepared now and that now is not the time to be traveling because this is going to be a powerful system, and it did not let us down.”

Here’s the latest on snow removal in Sioux Falls:

The Public Works Street Division declared a snow alert beginning at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. Plowing of emergency snow routes began Monday and will continue until routes are clear. All vehicles parked on emergency snow routes are subject to ticketing and towing.

Zone 3:   Plowing in Zone 3 will begin Tuesday evening, after emergency routes have been cleared. All streets in Zone 3 will be plowed. All vehicles parked in Zone 3 are subject to ticketing and towing during snowplowing operations until the streets have been plowed.

Zone 2:   Plowing of north/south streets will begin at 8 a.m. Wednesday.  All vehicles parked on north/south streets are subject to ticketing and towing until streets have been plowed or until 5 p.m., whichever is earlier. Although this requirement is in effect only until 5 p.m., any continuing snow removal operations may impact your use of the street for parking.

Plowing of east/west streets will begin at 8 p.m. Wednesday. All vehicles parked on east/west streets are subject to ticketing and towing until streets have been plowed or until 5 a.m., whichever is earlier. Although this requirement is in effect only until 5 a.m., any continuing snow removal operations may impact your use of the street for parking.

Zone 1:   Snow pickup operations in Zone 1 will begin Friday. Vehicles parked in Zone 1 will be subject to ticketing and towing between the hours of 1 and 6 a.m. Friday. During a snow alert, parking is prohibited in the downtown area between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m.

Ticketing and towing: Any vehicle parked in violation of the snow removal ordinances may be ticketed and towed after streets have been cleared.

Residents are asked to check siouxfalls.org/snow for up-to-date snow information as well as sign up for email or text snow alert notifications by texting SNOWALERT to 888777, or visiting siouxfalls.org/snow to sign up for email notifications. If you are unsure what snow zone you are in or where the zone boundaries are located, use the online interactive map on the website.

The Sioux Falls Regional Airport has announced plans to reopen at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Other businesses that shut down today largely seem to be planning to open Wednesday.

All Sanford Health Sioux Falls metro clinics closed at 1 p.m. today. Sanford 26^th & Sycamore Acute Care Clinic will remain open until 9 p.m. tonight. All Sanford Health clinics in Sioux Falls will open at 10 a.m. on Jan. 4.  This includes clinics in Brandon, Harrisburg, Hartford and Lennox as well as adult and pediatric outpatient rehabilitation appointments.

Many Avera Health clinics also are closed or operating at different hours. You can check on the status of your local clinic on its closures page here. To reschedule an appointment, call your clinic when normal hours resume.