SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — It’s been one of the roughest winters in recent history for sure. And today, much of KELOLAND is dealing with another round.

“It’s disgusting. I don’t like it,” Winner’s finance manager Chandra Phillips said of the March 31 morning weather.

March 31 is like a winter buffet. Phillips said the Winner area was receiving spotty rain, snow and sleet.

The buffet is just a taste of the long winter in Winner.

“As far as the entire winter, this winter has been something this area of the state hasn’t seen in a long time,” said Douglas King, the general manager of Winner Super Foods.

Winner city officials estimated that 85 inches of snow has fallen so far in the 2022-2023 winter. There have been five major snow events. When it wasn’t snowing, it seemed like it was windy and the snow was blowing.

Ahead of Friday’s snow, Sioux Falls had 64.4 inches, Aberdeen has had 55.4 inches, Pierre has had 43.3 inches, Watertown has had 43.3 inches, Sisseton has had 65.5 inches, Rapid City, 58.2 inches and Huron 52.4 inches, according to KELOLAND meteorologists.

“It’s been trying on everyone,” King said. King said Friday morning that he planned to send several employers who lived out of town home early.

Still, people are keeping spirits positive, King said. Employees are encouraging each other and staying laid back while keeping professional, he said.

Although there was some nasty weather today, based on a drive-through or KELOLAND Live Cam photos, it may be tough to grasp that Winner had so much snow.

“We had some nice days that past couple of weeks that really melted the snow,” King said.

“The thing that is helping us, is we went through such a horrible drought,” Phillips said.

The soil did not have much moisture or frost this winter, so the snow cover has been able to melt into the soil, she said. “It immediately melted in,” she said.

Phillips said Winner is a big farming and ranching community, so producers’ spirits were lifted as they watched the soil melt into the ground.

A visitor from Pierre recently commented that he expected to see more snow cover because of all the snow Winner has received this winter, Phillips said. Pierre also received a lot of snow, about half as much as Winner, with 43 inches.

About 24 miles to the east, Gregory was experiencing the same type of weather on Friday.

“It’s freezing rain,” said Gregory resident Heather Gildemaster.

Gregory has received about 81 inches of snow so far this winter, according to a map from KELOLAND meteorologists.

“January was pretty tough on everybody,” Gildemaster said She missed work and her son missed school because of the weather in January.

February and March have been better weather-wise, she said.

“I think in February we had one big storm,” Gildemaster said.

The weather over the past couple of weeks in Winner and Gregory has been better, but snow piles are still visible.

“We’ve got some big drifts still,” Gildemaster said.

“We still have quite a few big drifts,” Phillips said.

The city has cleared a lot of snow from streets and other areas this winter.

“This is the first year we’ve had snow like this since I’ve been the finance officers,” Phillips said. “This has taught me a lot of lessons.”

The snow removal budget is based on five-year averages, she said. There has been a winter like 2022-2023 for years, Phillips said.

The city does have available funding and contingency plan, she said. It helps that the fuel costs have dropped some.

For today, the residents of the Gregory and Winner areas will deal with the latest dose of winter.

Gregory is a blizzard warning for later today with 1 to 3 inches of snow and wind gusts of more than 50 mph predicted. Winner is also in a blizzard warning with the possibility of up to five inches of snow.

Sisseton at 65 inches and counting 

Along with the Black Hills and south-central South Dakota, the northeast corner of the state has experienced heavy snow totals this winter. 

Ahead of Friday, Sisseton has received 65.5 inches of snow throughout the winter months. The town in Roberts County was expected to receive another 9-14 inches of snow with this latest snow. 

“Definitely long,” Sisseton street and airport manager Myron Doud told KELOLAND News about the 2022-23 winter. “In January we started off with that big one.” 

Sisseton recorded 12.7 inches during a snowstorm in mid-December, but outside of that Doud said Sisseton has been hit constantly by smaller snowstorms. Doud has been with the city of Sisseton for 12 years and compared this winter to 2018-19. 

“It takes a toll on the budget, takes a toll on everything,” Doud said. “Snow is an expensive thing. We’re running out of room to put it.” 

Doud said side streets in Sisseton are very narrow and it’s hard to move snow over the existing piles which may last until May. 

“I was hoping we’d get that warm weather but we didn’t get that where the water is running,” Doud said. 

While he’s ready for more snow this weekend and next week, Doud said he’s heard county roads in the area are in worse shape. 

“There’s county roads that are like tunnels, that’s what I’ve been hearing from his guys,” Doud said.