We are tracking two systems that will bring snow to parts of our region over the next several days. The first system will impact areas along and south of a line from Sioux Falls to Pierre to the Northern Black Hills tonight and tomorrow. The second system will be more powerful, more widespread and impact most of our region late Friday night, Saturday and Sunday.

Today will be partly cloudy, slightly warmer and not as windy as yesterday. High temps will reach the mid-to-upper teens this afternoon with wind from the northwest at only 5 to 15 mph.

Our first system will kick in this evening as snow develops across Southwestern South Dakota and Western and Central Nebraska. A Winter Weather Advisory has been issued for parts of Southern South Dakota along the Missouri River and Nebraska state line from late tonight through tomorrow and a Winter Storm Warning has been issued for parts of South Central and Southwestern South Dakota from late this evening into tomorrow afternoon. Snow will move east through the night, moving into Sioux Falls sometime after 3 am. Light to moderate snow will continue tomorrow morning, gradually decreasing tomorrow afternoon. Snow accumulation of around an inch will be possible along and north of a line from Spencer, IA to Sioux Falls to Pierre to the Northern Black Hills. Amounts will be heavier south of that line. 3 to 5 inches will be possible around Yankton, Vermillion, Gregory and Winner with locally heavier amounts of 6 inches or more possible across parts of South Central South Dakota.

The second system we are tracking will be more powerful, more widespread and will likely have a significant impact on travel across our entire region throughout the weekend. This is definitely a concern considering the number of people that will be traveling for the Summit League basketball tournament.

As of right now, all of our data is suggesting that snow will develop across Western South Dakota and western Nebraska sometime Friday evening. Snow will move east through the night with snow likely across most of South Dakota, Southwestern Minnesota and Northwestern Iowa by daybreak Saturday.

Snow is likely and could be heavy at times Saturday, Saturday night into Sunday. The only forecast change overnight is that both of our primary long range models are suggesting the system will be a bit colder. That means all snow and no rain for most, however, there could still be some parts of northwestern Iowa that get a little rain/snow mix on Saturday.

By Saturday night, strong northwesterly wind gusts will increase and that will create blowing and drifting snow Saturday night and all day Sunday. Conditions should improve Sunday night into Monday morning.

It is still early and there will be tweaks and changes to the forecast as this system develops. Over the next 24 hours or so we will get more specific with the potential track and snowfall amounts. That said, keep a very close eye on the forecast and be prepared to make changes. It is looking more and more likely that a significant winter storm system will impact most of our region this weekend.