A powerful winter storm system will bring 5 to 10 inches of snow to much of our region today into tonight. Snow developed across Western South Dakota last evening and has been moving east throughout the night. Moderate to heavy snow will continue through most of the day and into this evening, ending from northwest to southeast tonight. 20 to 25 mph wind gusts could create areas of blowing snow this afternoon and evening. Travel conditions will gradually improve late tonight into Saturday morning.

A Winter Storm Warning is in effect for much of Central and Eastern South Dakota, southern Minnesota and Northwestern Iowa through this evening. Sioux Falls, Pierre, Chamberlain, Mitchell, Brookings, Redfield, Huron, Pipestone, Marshall, Redwood Falls, Worthington, Rock Rapids, and Spirit Lake/Okoboji are just a few of the cities included in the warning. The Sioux Falls Area will get about 5 to 7 inches of snow with locally heavier amounts of up to 10 inches possible across the warning area.

A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for locations north and south of the warning. Aberdeen, Watertown, Winner, Yankton, and Sioux City are some of the cities included in the advisory. Lesser snowfall amounts of about 2 to 5 inches can be expected in the advisory area, however there could be locally heavier amounts.

Temperatures are in the mid teens this morning and will continue to fall throughout the day. Because it is so cold, the snow will be light, fluffy and prone to blowing and drifting. While the wind will not be as strong as it was with our last winter storm, northeasterly wind gusts to between 20 and 25 mph this afternoon and evening will create areas of blowing snow that could reduce visibility at times, especially in rural areas. The wind will decrease to about 5 to 15 mph by late this evening and stay fairly light through the rest of the weekend.

Other than some light snow Saturday night into Sunday morning, the rest of the weekend will be mostly dry and bitterly cold. On Saturday and Sunday high temps will only reach the single digits to teens with morning lows dropping well below zero.

We are watching another potential system that could bring areas of freezing rain and snow Monday into Tuesday. There could be some accumulation with this system. Strong wind and areas of blowing snow could also be an issue. This one is still several days away. Stay tuned, we’ll take a closer look at this one after we get today’s storm out of the way.