A record-breaking storm that dumped 4 feet of snow in parts of western South Dakota left ranchers dealing with heavy losses as they assess how many of their cattle died during the unseasonably early blizzard.Meanwhile, utility companies were working to restore power to tens of thousands of people still without electricity Monday after the weekend storm that was part of a powerful weather system that also buried parts of Wyoming and Colorado with snow and produced destructive tornadoes in Nebraska and Iowa.
See? Early season blizzards AND tornadoes! Too much carbon from China and India the U.S. should be offsetting.
Ranchers and officials said the losses were aggravated by the fact that a government disaster program to help ranchers recover from livestock losses has expired. Ranchers won't be able to get federal help until Congress passes a new farm bill, said a spokesman for Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D.
Naturally, there is a government shutdown angle, too.
In South Dakota, the 19 inches of snow that fell in Rapid City on Friday broke the city's 94-year-old one-day snowfall record for October by about 9 inches, according to the National Weather Service. The city also set a record for snowfall in October, with a total of 23.1 inches during the storm. The previous record was 15.1 inches in October 1919.
Al Gore rests his case.