Possible Weekend Storm

Today’s forecast includes more cold and a possible winter storm for the upcoming weekend.

After an incredibly windy day yesterday, the wind has decreased through the night. It will still be a bit breezy this morning with gusts to around 25 mph through midday, but the wind should decrease to about 5 to 15 mph by late afternoon. We will start today with plenty of sunshine, clouds will increase a bit this afternoon with a few flurries possible later today. It will be a bit warmer than yesterday, but today’s high of 14 degrees in Sioux Falls and 15 degrees in Aberdeen is still about 25 degrees below average for this time of year.

After another dry, slightly warmer day tomorrow we have another chance of snow in the forecast for Wednesday night and Thursday. This system will primarily impact Southern and Southwestern South Dakota with snow along and south of a line that runs from Spencer, IA to Sioux Falls to Pierre to the Northern Black Hills. Sioux Falls, Mitchell and Pierre could get a couple of inches with heavier amounts to the South and West. 3 to 5 inches is possible from Sioux City to Yankton to Chamberlain to Murdo to Winner.

It wouldn’t be basketball tournament time without the possibility of a major winter storm looming over the weekend, right? The big weather story this week is the possibility of a powerful winter storm system that could have a widespread, significant impact on our region late Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Heavy snow and strong wind will be possible across much of South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska. Temperatures will be a bit warmer this weekend, so there is also the possibility of some rain and even some ice, especially to the south. We are still several days away and we will be making a lot of tweaks and adjustments to this forecast. This system hasn’t even developed yet and there is a lot to be determined regarding storm track, amount of moisture, and precipitation type. I wouldn’t change plans at this point, but definitely check the forecast and check it often. We will keep the updates coming, getting more specific with the storm track and potential snowfall amounts as we get closer.