Cloudy with scattered showers in the morning, gradual clearing through the afternoon. Cooler. High: 65°. Wind: South becoming north by noon 15-25 mph, decreasing to 5-15 mph by late afternoon.

Our stretch of 20+ degree above average days will end today, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. There is still plenty of gorgeous autumn weather to come.

Today will be sunny and warm, but also very windy. High temps will range from the upper 70s in the Sioux Falls area to the low to mid 80s across central and western South Dakota. Unfortunately the wind will be a bit of a pain today. South wind will gust to between 30 and 40 mph throughout much of the day.

The heat, wind and dry conditions will crank up the grassland fire danger potential. Don’t burn and be careful when working in dry farm fields today. Keep an eye on your machinery and do a double check to be sure you know where your fire extinguishers are, that they’re working and that you know how to use them.

A cold front will zip across the Dakotas tonight, bringing a chance of showers and thunderstorms tonight into tomorrow. our best chance for rain in Sioux Falls will be late this evening through tonight and into tomorrow morning. While Sioux Falls and places along and west of I-29 will gradually clear throughout the day tomorrow, scattered showers and thunderstorms will redevelop across parts of Minnesota and Iowa tomorrow afternoon. A few strong to severe storms are possible across south-central to southeastern Minnesota and central Iowa tomorrow.

Behind the front we will be dry but cooler. High temps will drop to the mid 60s on Saturday and Sunday. Next week will be dry with high temps bouncing around in the 50s to 60s.

Tonight is the night to cover your tomatoes, petunias, marigolds or any other plants you want to live another day. It is going to get cold tonight. A Freeze Warning is in effect for most of central and eastern South Dakota, western and central Minnesota and extreme northwestern Iowa. By tomorrow morning, temps will drop into the upper 20s to near 30 degrees in Sioux Falls while temps across northern South Dakota drop into the low 20s. Temps will drop into the low to mid 30s again tomorrow night, after that I don’t think frost will be a threat for the rest of the week.

A system to our south will keep Sioux Falls in the Tri-State region mostly cloudy today. Clouds will gradually roll out late today into this evening. Central and northern South Dakota will see a few clouds early with plenty of sunshine this afternoon. High temps will reach the low to mid 50s this afternoon.

The rest of the week is lookin’ good with plenty of sunshine and warming temps. By Thursday most places will warm into the upper 60s to low 70s. The weekend will be a bit cooler with a few scattered showers possible on Saturday.

Today is going to be a really nice fall day. There will be plenty of sunshine with afternoon temps in the low 60s and a light northwesterly breeze.

I wish I had better news for farmers that are struggling to get the combine in the field. More rain is in the forecast for tonight, tomorrow and Friday. Unfortunately, it looks like a lot of that rain will fall across the same places that had the heavy rain earlier this week. While I don’t think there’ll be quite as much rain this time around, we’re still looking at one-half inch to an inch of rain in Sioux Falls with heavier amounts south and east of the Sioux Falls area. Parts of Iowa and Minnesota could easily get an inch or two of rain through Friday night. Stay with us for updates. We’ll get more specific with rain amounts later today and tomorrow morning.

The rain will end by Saturday morning and that will lead us into a really nice weekend. Saturday and Sunday will be mostly sunny with highs in the low 70s Saturday, mid to upper 60s on Sunday.

I do have some good news for farmers. After the rain ends on Friday, we should stay dry for a while. Our long-range models keep us mostly dry through next week and beyond. Hopefully that will give you some time to dry out and get harvest rolling.