Furloughed NWS staffers keep the candles burning during Black Hills blizzard

Paul Huttner, chief meteorologist for Minnesota Public Radio, had a compelling story about the federal government shutdown in his "Updraft" blog today. Furloughed National Weather Service staffers, trapped in their Rapid City office by the blizzard, tracked the storm and provided crucial weather info as some places in the Black Hills were walloped with 55-58 inches of snow. Huttner sums it up this way:

The job performed by the staff at the Rapid City NWS was well above and beyond the call of duty last weekend. Especially considering they did it without the promise of a paycheck.

Read the entire column here.

Meanwhile, South Dakota's Republican governor has requested federal disaster assistance that probably won't arrive anytime soon due to the Republican shutdown of the U.S. government. Read more about that at Larry Kurtz's excellent and acerbic Interested Party blog.