Summit Digging Out, Eyeing Future Weather

As people in the northeast still work to clear snow, they’re also eyeing future weather.

With a lot of snow sitting on the ground in the Summit area, it won’t take much wind to create blizzard conditions and drifting. Strong winds often blow in Summit.

"Yeah, it's probably going to be something we're going to be dealing with for the next month at least," Tim Gapp said.

When snow and strong wind combine in eastern South Dakota, Summit is often the first stretch of interstate to close and the last to re-open. This latest storm dropped several inches in the Summit area. Living out in the country, Melanie Whempner hardly made it to town.

"Snowmobile, until I got stuck and then my husband brought me in on a tractor," Whempner said.

And that was Monday when the brunt of the storm had passed. Living in the area she expects challenges like that and she anticipates more before the snow melts.

The school will keep a close eye on the weather. It started late Tuesday after canceling classes Monday.

"It doesn't take a lot of wind to start drifting in everything that we had plowed out," principal Kurt Jensen said.

Administrators stay in contact with Roberts and Grant counties. They also talk with families in the country to determine if it's safe to run buses. With a lot of snow sitting around, there could be a few more of those calls in the future.

"It's all right,” Whempner said. “February is here; spring's coming."

She may have a few more snowmobile/tractor rides into town before it does.

The Coffee Cup gas station often hosts stranded motorists during a storm. People in town have opened their homes too. The community hosted stranded UND hockey fans during this last storm.