The storm that hit the West River region Wednesday and Thursday dropped heavy snowfall in a couple of areas, disrupted some school schedules, closed Mount Rushmore, canceled a few airline flights and made life miserable for livestock.

But the storm was dissipating Thursday afternoon as it continued moving slowly to the east, with snow turning to rain on the prairies east of the Black Hills.

The bulk of the storm stayed to the south, dumping heaps of wet snow on Colorado and the Nebraska panhandle.

The storm's remnants were expected to move to Rapid City by this morning and continue trickling off to the east throughout the day, according to meteorologist Greg Richards of the National Weather Service office in Rapid City.

Heavy snow fell primarily in two areas, the Northern Black Hills and some places to the south in Fall River and Shannon counties, Richards said.

By 3 p.m., the heaviest reported snowfall was 15-17 inches just northeast of Deadwood. Sturgis received 5 inches, while Rapid City Regional Airport received about 4 inches of snow.

Snowfall to the south included 9 inches at Crazy Horse Memorial, 8 inches at Wounded Knee, and 6 inches near Oglala.

The storm closed schools Thursday at Lead-Deadwood and at Red Cloud just north of Pine Ridge. Other schools, such as Spearfish, started late. Douglas Schools dismissed classes early, at 1 p.m.

The blowing snow and deteriorating road conditions also prompted officials to close Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Ellsworth Air Force Base stayed open, but only essential personnel remained on duty.

At Rapid City Regional Airport, a handful of flights to and from Denver and Minneapolis had been canceled, but no flights scheduled after 11 a.m. were canceled. By mid-afternoon, both visibility and runway conditions were good, said Rich Olsen, airport operations supervisor.

Olsen said there were a couple of cancellations or delays out of Denver International Airport, which was hit hard by the storm. But he said Delta Airlines also canceled some flights from Minneapolis. He wasn't sure why, except that visibility in Rapid City wasn't good early Thursday morning. Conditions at the airport were expected to continue clearing overnight and into today, Olsen said.

The storm hadn't caused any major accidents on state highways as of mid-afternoon Thursday, according to Capt. Kevin Karley, commander of the South Dakota Highway Patrol for the Rapid City District.

He said there were a few vehicles that went into ditches on Thursday, including a few off Interstate 90 east of Rapid City in the afternoon.

"There are no serious injuries at this time," Karley said.

For farmers and ranchers, the storm was likely a mixed blessing.

Moisture is usually welcome, and it could only help the winter wheat planted earlier this month, said Maurice Lemke, the South Dakota Cooperative Extension educator for livestock in Dupree.

Lemke said about 2 inches of snow remained on the ground.

"These cattle are starting to look a little tough," he said. "Cold weather and damp conditions are starting to take a little toll on them."

He said blustery weather this month has set back weaning, so a lot of cattle still have calves at their side.

"It makes it tough on calves and cows. Both are going to lose some condition," Lemke said.

Also, he said some farmers around Eagle Butte still have corn and sunflowers sitting in the field unharvested.

"The moisture will degrade the quality of the corn and obviously have an effect on the sunflowers seeds, too," he said.

He said if the warm-up predicted for next week arrives and lasts a couple of weeks, it could help the ag sector.

"We could recoup some quality on both crops and livestock," he said.

The warm-up should start slowly today, continue over the weekend and kick in next week, Richards said.

"Most of next week will see near normal temperatures in the mid-50s and with dry weather."

Contact Steve Miller at 394-8415 or steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com.