Thursday, December 18, 2008

Snow Tonight... And A Blizzard Saturday?

Update - 10:08pm...

We're watching as snow gets closer - now about 30-35 miles away. Here is a radar image from 10:08pm Thursday night as the snow approaches:



From earlier:

Yup, that's right - 2 big storms in basically 2 days... Things are not looking good travel-wise for a while. Not only that, we get another arctic blast as we get that second storm - the one which looks like it might end up being a blizzard.

So, first things first... our snowstorm for tonight. We're already starting to see the snow fall for some of us, but here is what we're looking for tentatively by morning:


You might notice that things look a little snowier than they did last night. This storm has shown a tendency toward more moisture being wrapped into the system over the last 24 hours.

We'll see how this storm lines up with actual readings come tomorrow morning.

Next, the upcoming potential blizzard...

We're seeing blizzard warnings already being issued covering much of northern, northeastern, and eastern South Dakota, and into west-central Minnesota.

This was our map for our 6pm show Thursday night with official blizzard watch outlines:

We'll be keeping a close eye on wind potential, along with snow potential, for Saturday to Saturday night. It's looking pretty nasty. Here's a rundown of what you can expect: Look for winds to pick up as the storm nears, then temperatures drop all day long (similar to last week's storm) to somewhere near or below zero, and the winds blow around the snow - which should end up in the 1-3" range.

Stay tuned and we'll update you whenever something new comes in with these 2 pretty major storms... and drive safely!

~KDLT Meteorologist Aaron Shaffer

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

What do the weather conditions have to be to be considered a blizzard?

KDLT Weather said...

Hey There,

A blizzard typically will consist of winds sustained near 35+mph, really any amount of snow falling for the most part, and a combination of those two things that makes visibility 1/4 mile or less. We'll probably be talking about that more and more over the next 48 hours!

~KDLT Meteorologist Aaron Shaffer

Anonymous said...

Is there a good chance to have a "white" Christmas?

KDLT Weather said...

In short, Absolutely!! But it does depend on where you are. If you are in the Eastern two thirds of South Dakota or in Minnesota or Iowa, looks like you will see a white christmas because snow cover is at least 4 inches in all areas and temperatures aren't going to get anywhere close to the freeze mark over the next week. Now that being said, after this weekend, there may be some bare spots here and there just because with the blizzard conditions that are expected, snow tends to pile up in weird spots and open areas can become bare. But don't expect any melting. If you are in the Western third of South Dakota, the snow cover is generally less than two inches so it wont be as nice of a white christmas but there will still be at least a little snow on the ground. I hope that helps!

Anonymous said...

what type of weather follows a blizzard

KDLT Weather said...

Relative calm?

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Thoughts from you guys...