The commonly uttered colloquialism, “April showers bring May flowers” may need a revamp for the thousands of South Dakotans across the state experiencing the unprecedented and extreme weather event that occurred this past weekend.

SD, known for its harsh and long winters, was hit with another incident of agonizing and gratuitous snow. While they may not have been unprepared, the weather did have the effect of shutting down a variety of public places and means of transportation. Road and store closings were frequent and prolonged through the nearly 36-hour storm. The Sioux Falls airport had to shut down for almost the entire duration of the winter weather warning as visibility levels were too low to risk any flights. Thousands of fliers were forced to cancel or reschedule flights.

After-school activities and extracurricular events were cancelled or postponed at high schools in Sioux Falls in order to protect students. Performances of the spring play at LHS, The Plot, Like Gravy, Thickens, were postponed to Monday and Tuesday night this week in preparation for the advancing storm. The ACT scheduled for Saturday was postponed to the following Saturday at all the public high schools in Sioux Falls as well.

Coverage of the weather event took precedence over news on broadcasting stations around the state, including KSFY’s.

“This snow event brought the City of Sioux Falls 14.2 inches of new snow,” said Mark Cotter, Director of Public Works, as was reported by KSFY.

Perhaps the more accurate, but still promising statement that South Dakotans may want to consider saying is, “April precipitation brings May flowers.” Hopefully following this spring snow, more lively weather is coming.