Good evening everyone! Here’s a current look at the advisories and warnings currently hoisted across the region: We have Winter Storm Warnings in effect east of Pierre, SD through Sioux Falls into the far southern county rows of MN. Winter Weather Advisories encircle the warned area across central SD and locations south of Minneapolis, MN. While not shown, Wind Chill Advisories are also in effect for northeastern ND and northern MN through Friday morning.
Simulated radar through 6am CST Sunday: As we work into the late evening hours, snow will begin to develop in western ND and slowly increase in coverage and intensity overnight. These snows will spread into western SD by midnight tonight and work eastward across the remainder of the state overnight. By 6am CST Friday morning, snow coverage will have expanded through the rest of SD and the southwestern half of ND. However, freezing rain may mix in at times along the NE/SD border tonight before transitioning to all snow by 6am CST Friday. Snow will work eastward Friday morning across southwestern MN while the intensity of the snow begins to wane in northwestern SD and southwestern ND during the afternoon hours. By evening, the heavier bands of snow will be located in far southeastern SD and far southern MN while scattered flurries/snow showers will hang back in the rest of SD and southwestern ND. The bulk of the snows will have exited to the southeast of MN by 3am CST Saturday though a few patches of light snow showers will remain possible in SD.
As previously mentioned, a bit of freezing will likely mix in mainly along the western NE/SD border, which could lead to a light glaze of ice of a few hundredths of an inch.
With the snows falling tonight and especially tomorrow, look for lower visibilities along with blowing snow as winds will gust upwards of 25mph at times. As the storm system works east of the area Friday night into Saturday morning, the winds should gradually die down.
Total snowfall through Friday night reveals a hefty band of 8-12″ of snow east of Pierre towards Sioux Falls as an area of strong frontogenesis (development of a boundary that aids in lift) will develop in eastern SD into far southwestern MN. Due to a strong area of high pressure to the north with drier air, there will be a sharp cutoff in snow on the north side with a county north/south being the difference between 8″ of snow and little to no snow. Minneapolis at this current time looks to receive little snow, but as previously stated, any changes in track could alter this.
Simulation of temperatures through Sunday: To the north of the areas that receive snow tonight into Friday, temperatures are expected to fall well into the negatives with even negative teens on the table in northeastern ND and the northern third of MN. Areas further south that experience snow will still stay in the single digits and teens, making for a dry snow. Heading into Friday night and Saturday morning, temperatures will really take a nose-dive with negative teens in the eastern Dakotas and northern/western MN. -20s will be likely in northeastern ND and far northern MN. Take a look at the second image below which shows wind chills Saturday morning. Definitely going to be looking at some cold nights and even days ahead of us.
If you have any questions do not hesitate to reach out! Have a great evening!