Today’s Video:
Good Thursday morning!
Light rain has broken out for portions of the Dakotas this morning associated with the high impact storm that will develop for portions of the region Friday – Sunday.
Here’s a look at the simulated radar into mid-day tomorrow. Rain shower activity will really begin to pick up for portions of Eastern South Dakota and Southern Minnesota overnight tonight and into early tomorrow. Cannot rule out a few rumbles of thunder and hail with some of the stronger showers especially for far Southeast SD and Southern Minnesota.
Note, snow really begins to develop for the Western Dakotas overnight tonight and into tomorrow morning. This snow will slowly push east and impact much of South Dakota and Southern Minnesota.
Timing: Snow likely expands to more of South Dakota by mid-day tomorrow, with the heaviest snow falling in south-central South Dakota. Lighter snow will fall in Minnesota tomorrow and their heaviest snow will come overnight Friday into late Saturday. Snow likely doesn’t exit South Dakota until Saturday evening and snow showers continue for Minnesota into at least mid-day Sunday. Given this is a strong, slow moving storm, some very hefty snow accumulations are likely.
Accumulations of 2 feet are not out of the questions in isolated spots especially in South Central South Dakota. Widespread accumulations of 1 foot are likely especially through portions of Southern and Eastern South Dakota and into Southern Minnesota.
Winds will also be very strong with this system. Sustained winds of 20-30 MPH while heavy snow falls with gusts of 35-50MPH are likely.
With this in mind, here’s the areas we expect to see the biggest impacts from this storm. We’re focusing on an area in South Central South Dakota that will have the best chance for totals of 18-24″ of snow with isolated higher amounts. Strong wind gusts will create blowing and drifting snow and likely down power lines and trees. Overall, extremely dangerous travel conditions are likely Friday into Sunday. Though snow will end Saturday night for the extreme impacted areas – it will be very difficult to clear snow given temperatures falling close to zero in spots and additional blowing snow possible.
Overall, this storm will put down quite a lot of precipitation over portions of the Northern Plains:
Here’s a look at temperatures and cloud cover over the next four days. Note, we do see some sunshine on Sunday which will aid a bit in the snow removal process even though temperatures likely stay in the 20s.
If you have any questions do not hesitate to reach out! Have a great day!