Hailstorm prompts use of snowplows in South Dakota city

Rapid City, S.D. — A brief but intense hailstorm that dropped as much as 4 inches of slippery pellets in a South Dakota city prompted officials to call out snowplows in the middle of summer.

Pennington County Sheriff’s Deputy Matthew Jackson tells the Rapid City Journal that the Tuesday night incident on U.S. Highway 16 south of Rapid City was “definitely weird” for mid-July.

The National Weather Service says pea-size hail pelted the highway for about 15 minutes. Jackson says the area was shrouded in heavy fog as the hail melted and a few cars went off the road, but that there were no serious injuries.