PIERRE, S.D. (Press Release) – Gov. Kristi Noem has ordered state government offices in 50 counties to be closed all day Friday because of the continuing April snow storm while state government offices in the 16 remaining counties will open either in the morning or afternoon.

The openings or closures for state offices were decided based on when either blizzard or winter storm warnings ended for each county.

Counties opening at 8 a.m. local time are (11): Campbell, Clay, Corson, Fall River, Harding, Lincoln, Minnehaha, Perkins, Turner, Union and Yankton.

Counties opening at 1 p.m. local time are (5): Butte, Custer, Lawrence, Meade and Pennington.

Counties closed for the day are (50):  Aurora, Beadle, Bennett, Bon Homme, Brookings, Brown, Brule, Buffalo, Charles Mix, Clark, Codington, Davison, Day, Deuel, Dewey, Douglas, Edmunds, Faulk, Grant, Gregory, Haakon, Hamlin, Hand, Hanson, Hughes, Hutchinson, Hyde, Jackson, Jerauld, Jones, Kingsbury, Lake, Lyman, Marshall, McCook, McPherson, Mellette, Miner, Moody, Oglala Lakota, Potter, Roberts, Sanborn, Spink, Stanley, Sully, Todd, Tripp, Walworth and Ziebach.

Only essential personnel within state offices in the 50 closed counties should report to their work stations.