Update On Snow

Here's that storm that brought some places 6-7" of snow, but those areas in the pink are winter storm warnings, the purple areas are winter weather advisories, so snow is expected as far south as Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia.

You can see - snow is now expected to be in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia - a rare treat (or terror) for them! With the low pressure system taking this path, we'll be in the clear as far as any precip. goes for awhile. This will cut off our moisture supply from the Gulf of Mexico and leave us with some very dry days so break out the lotion - seriously. Plus we have a stationary front to our West, which will basically stop anything from the West from entering our area over the next few days. Don't expect any crazy weather really until Tuesday in Northern South Dakota and then everyone should see some mixed precipitation Wednesday night and into Thursday once that low pressure system heads off shore and the stationary front dissipates.

~KDLT Meteorologist Jesse Ritka

Evening Up the Snow Distribution . . .

Snapshot of round number two . . . this system has really started to lose its intensity but it is a slow moving system, so SE SD could see an inch or two from this, with higher amounts possible in the extreme southern tip of the state and in Nebraska - they got hammered with this storm. Winter storm warnings are starting to expire as it pushes down to the South and East. You can see on this map of our region how far South this system is headed. The purple areas are the counties that are currently under a winter weather advisory.

Snow is expected to go even as far as the Arkansas-Missouri border. It looks to be too warm in Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, instead some severe weather is in the forecast - so this storm that brought 3-6 inches to some places is going to keep pumping out interesting weather for the next 48 hours.

Warming trend through the weekend and into your work week though - meaning melting snow in the forecast!

~KDLT Meteorologist Jesse Ritka

Snow AGAIN? You bet!

Well, yesterday turned out to happen pretty close to what we expected. Freezing rain and sleet turned into snow eventually in Sioux Falls, with heavy snow only toward the north. In some parts of South Dakota we saw totals up to about 16"!

Here's what we're looking for today in our area:

This is a breakdown of what we're expecting, as well - it seems to be fairly consistent in all of the different computer models for now:

We'll see how it all pans out - but for now this is what we're looking for! Make sure you check out www.safetravelusa.com/sd for the latest road conditions and webcams.

Have a great weekend and bundle up - get ready for a warm-up starting Sunday!

~KDLT Meteorologist Aaron Shaffer

Wintry Update as Well as Snow Estimates for Friday.

Just had to put this pic up since I can barely make out where the road is or what the little white dots are in the lower right quarter of the picture... Maybe road lights? I'm guessing the big light in the upper left is a car coming... but just goes to show what darkness, whipping winds and fresh snow can do to road conditions... NOT a good night to be traveling.

I also wanted to put up a preliminary snowfall estimate map...

Stay safe, keep warm and get those shovels ready again... hopefully you have one of those ergonomic ones :)

~KDLT Meteorologist Jesse Ritka

Snow Totals and Another Round on the Way!

Sorry if you thought winter was over, here's a look at how much snow you got!

Some individual snow totals:

Pollock-14"

Eureka-12"

Redfield-10"

Lemmon-8"

Selby-8"

Aberdeen-6.1"

Florence-6"

Mobridge-6"

Wilmot-4.5"

Huron-3.5"

Wessington Springs-2.0"

Madison 1.5"

Sioux Falls-1.2"

Pierre-1"

Montrose-0.5"

And if you are interested in how much snow your city saw from this first round... the National Weather Service has a very detailed list of all the observations they received. This is the list for the North and this is the list for the South. And you thought spring was here . . . it felt quite the opposite in Sisseton and in many places in the North due to the winds and the blowing snow, visibilities are still under a half a mile in many places in the NE.

Wind chill values will be in the 20-30 degree below zero range, and so there are wind chill advisories in effect from midnight until 7am, so it will feel like you're in the Arctic if you step outdoors.

Here's one model's prediction for snow from our next system that's heading our way already. The SE tip could finally see a bit of snow... the light pink is 0-1", the fuchsia is 1-2", the turquoise is 2-3". I do think that we'll see more snow than this model is predicting in the south-central part of the state, but estimates are relatively close - for the most part: moderate snow will be in the West and start to taper off as the snow-track heads SE. From my personal analysis I think you can connect the two areas of fuchsia (or 1-2" of snow) and expand the light pink (Tr.-1" of snow) down to the Nebraska border. I'm sure Aaron will give you new estimates in the morning!

Enjoy digging out of the fresh snow - or maybe take the kids out after school to make snow people!

~KDLT Meteorologist Jesse Ritka

Another Storm Update - With Video Of Heavy Snow!

We're getting some great reports on this storm from viewers. One in Tabor, near Yankton, reported waking up to thunder & lightning at about 6-6:15am this morning. We also just got this video clip below from a viewer in Herreid, reporting heavy snow. Check this out:



If you have any pictures of the snow make sure to send them in to us!

If they are news related send them to news@kdlt.com and if they are weather-related send them to weather@kdlt.com.

Take care and drive safely!

~KDLT Meteorologist Aaron Shaffer

Another Storm Update: 7:03am

Well, it's still pretty nasty out there... during the course of the morning show we saw accumulating freezing rain, sleet, and then some snow as well.

This is the latest radar image - and look at that blob just to the west of Sioux Falls:

Eventually we'll see a heavy band of snow or two - but they should be brief.

Drive safely on those slick roads!

~KDLT Meteorologist Aaron Shaffer

Storm Update: Heavy Snow In Aberdeen & Closing In On Sioux Falls

Well, it's about 4am and I've been now monitoring this storm since about 9am yesterday morning. Cody is off today and on vacation for a few days in a much warmer climate - but as weather people we actually *enjoy* being at work when we have exciting weather to talk about... so I'm not jealous.

Here's what I'm seeing on radar - it looks like some of that freezing rain we've been talking about:

Those returns over in McCook county are only about 35 miles away... so get ready! I predicted last night that this mess will start up around commute time Thursday, and that's what it's shaping up to do. Now it's a much different story toward the North:

I was just talking to a fellow meteorologist from the Aberdeen National Weather Service, and they were telling me about some nasty weather up there. As I write this, likely about 2 inches of snow had fallen with more heavy snow being reported. Not only that, but also some stronger winds were blowing snow around and creating limited visibility.

Get ready for this one and drive safely!

~KDLT Meteorologist Aaron Shaffer

Nasty Storm Heads To Our Area

We've been following this storm system for some time now, and it seems to be taking a pretty similar shape to what we've been looking for. The verdict? *Someone* will get some VERY heavy snow - upwards of a foot or more. But who? That is the question.

Here's the breakdown of where we're expecting the heaviest snow to fall as we head overnight into Thursday and Thursday night:

It's kind of a scary graphic - but basically we're looking for the "fun" to start off toward the Northwest somewhere around the midnight hour as a system currently over Wyoming makes its way farther toward the East and strengthens. Then, as we head closer toward the commute time for earlier Thursday we'll be likely seeing some heavy snow toward the northern half of South Dakota, north of highway 14 and then stretching to the East as well. At about that same time we'll be looking for some freezing rain and/or sleet in the area toward the South and the Southeast. As we head closer toward about mid-morning to early afternoon we'll be looking for some periods of heavier snow in the Sioux Falls area and beyond.

Here's the breakdown we're showing in our 6pm news and it's definitely still subject to change before our 10pm newscast should the situation shift dramatically between now and then:

Notice that last part: "Most heavy snow has fallen by night." That about sums it up. A quick and nasty storm. The bad news? It still looks like we'll be seeing another light snow shower type of system come through that could give us another inch in our area Friday to Friday evening.

Stay tuned to KDLT for more details!

~KDLT Meteorologist Aaron Shaffer

The Snow Starts Tonight

I'm sure everyone is aware of the storm fast approaching South Dakota. We are beginning to get a better handle on this storm and the amount of snow that we are anticipating. Unfortunately, we are not just going to see snow. It is likely that areas south of I-90 will start as a mix of freezing rain and sleet and then eventually change over to snow. Some areas of the southeast like Sioux Falls, Yankton, and Sioux Center, could end up with a few hundredths of an inch of icing that will cause very slick roadways late tonight. The picture below is an 850mb temperature map that shows why we are expecting the freezing rain to start with. You can see that many areas of the south are well above freezing aloft that will cause the snow to melt to rain before it reaches the ground. But with some cold air right at the surface, it falls as rain and then freezes when it hits the ground. The good news is we are not expecting enough to cause damage to trees or power lines as cold air will work its way into the area as the storm passes by. The picture below is for the temperatures at 850mb for noon tomorrow.

So, how much snow are we expecting? Well, this wont be a record breaking snowfall but it will provide us with quite a bit. Looks like a pretty good band of 4-8" with some spots that may reach the 10" mark. Here is what one of the models is now predicting which I agree with.Looks like Sioux Falls will again miss out on the heaviest of the snow but I would still expect 3 or 4 inches of the white stuff to fall.

On a brighter note, KDLT's Eric Hotz sent this picture to me this morning when he was driving to work. A great sunrise just outside Lennox, SD.

Enjoy the last day of mild weather!

~KDLT Meteorologist Cody Matz

Snow For Thursday: Update

Alright, so we finally did it and bit the bullet to give you guys at least a little idea of how much snow we're looking at. You probably read my post yesterday where we discussed the placement of the "bullseye" or the smaller area of high snow totals.

Here's what we're looking at for now:

What you're going to want to do is keep a close eye on that bullseye over NE SD and into west-central Minnesota. Also, we're going to be watching just how much snow we're expecting and when. Right now it looks like the bulk of the snow will fall about morning to midday Thursday, with a brief period of stalling before a secondary patch of snow moves over us Friday night to Saturday.

If you want more information - don't worry! We'll be updating this blog ALL the time over the next couple of days, and once things settle down we'll talk more about how we're trying to work some additional data into our systems so that you can see more temperatures and conditions around the area and get a better idea of how things really look outside!

Have a great night!

~KDLT Meteorologist Aaron Shaffer

Mother Nature is Taking Us for a Ride

It is going to be a very interesting few days around South Dakota as we are expecting widespread 50's today but accumulating snow come Thursday. More on the snow in a second but first, the good news. Today looks to be quite mild with many locations climbing into the 50's that don't have any snow cover. The picture below is what a conglomeration of models is predicting our highs to be today. It is likely that some areas may be a little warmer this afternoon then shown below. You can see the large temperature difference between areas with snow cover to the north and east and the areas without to the south and west.
Now, on to the snow for Thursday. Aaron showed you snowfall predictions from a set of models yesterday. Well, those models haven't changed a whole lot since then and because of that, there is still some pretty big uncertainty on just how much snow we will receive. Well, the HPC (Hydrological Prediction Center) produces a probability map of the likelihood of snowfall amounts.

These first two maps show the probability of receiving at least 4 inches of snow and the probability of receiving at least 8 inches of snow from 6am Wednesday through 6am Thursday. The area inside the blue line indicates at least a 10% chance, inside the green line indicates at least a 40% chance, and inside the red line indicates at least a 70% chance of 4 inches of snow or 8 inches of snow.

The last two maps I'm showing are exactly he same type of maps except they are for the hours from 6am Thursday through 6am on Friday.So the general consensus from the HPC is that there is about a 50% probability of seeing a swath of at least 4 inches of snow across much of South Dakota and southern Minnesota from this next storm. We will try to become more certain about the exact snowfall amounts we are anticipating as the time nears. Hopefully the forecasting models will lend a hand. So, enjoy the sunshine and mild weather while its here because Christmas like weather is likely to return on Thursday.

~KDLT Meteorologist Cody Matz

Snow For Thursday?

Things are looking mighty interesting for Thursday & Friday of this week. If you just watched our newscast at 6pm tonight you heard me mention that it looks like we are in store for at least a couple of inches of snow. We're going to be following the computer models closely and checking out just how much moisture this system has to work with before we publish official forecast totals, but we like to give you sneak peaks of snow totals.

Here is what one model is thinking, you'll notice the "bullseye" of snowfall in the central 1/3 of South Dakota into Minnesota:

Click on that image for a closer view, and you'll notice computer model predicted 8+" of snow! That would be crazy. If you think that's bad you should see this next one:

The computer model above is a less reliable one, but we try to at least consider what each model has to offer (they all have various weaknesses & biases) before immediately discarding it. This computer model known as the NAM (North American Mesoscale) is predicting that we'll be in the bullseye in Sioux Falls, with close to 8 inches of snow!

Hopefully this doesn't happen. Monday is much too early to put out numbers that are set in stone, and another concern is the cooling for Thursday. If we don't cool down enough some of that could fall as drizzle or light rain. As you know, we've dodged most of the big storms in Sioux Falls this season.

Have a great night!

~KDLT Meteorologist Aaron Shaffer

Warmer and Windy

Some warmer weather will be moving in today with a strong southerly flow. Winds will be pretty steady out of the south and southeast anywhere from 10-25 mph with gusts to 30. The good news is that south wind helps draw up some warm air and aids in our temperatures. But some recent model data is suggesting that things might not get quite as warm as we think. The following images are from the RUC. This has the highest resolution of all of the models which aides in helping to make the model more accurate. Well, if we look at the temperatures it is expecting across the state at 3pm (which is typically when the high temperature is this time of the year), it shows that Sioux Falls is barely cresting over the 30 degree mark. Now, this model isn't always correct, but it does suggest that the highs today may come up a little short of what is forecasted. The next picture is of the forecasted sustained wind speeds (which I also showed last week so you should be experts by now right?) and it shows winds of mainly 15-20 mph across the eastern half of South Dakota.

The good news is that much warmer air will be shifting in tomorrow with widespread 30's and 40's expected. Enjoy!

~KDLT Meteorologist Cody Matz

Break Out the Binocs!

This will be something to look out for over the next few nights. Comet Lulin is expected to be closest to Earth on Feb. 24th, and with the naked-eye, you should be able to faintly see a gaseous area in the Southern sky. If you've got binoculars or a telescope, you could actually see a image close to the one above. The good news is that we're expecting mostly clear skies tonight so you'll have a better chance of catching it around 1am, plus there's a new moon so the light won't interfere with your comet-gazing!

The comet will be moving in the opposite direction that the Earth spins, so it will look like it's moving fast, so be sure to be ready between midnight because it should set within a few hours, with the best chance to see it around 1am.


On Monday night, Comet Lulin will pass within 2° of Saturn, but I'd suggest checking tonight since we're expecting cloudier conditions on Monday night. Lulin's closest approach will be on Tuesday night, but again, cloudy skies are expected in South Dakota, if you want to keep track of it, http://www.spaceweather.com/ has an answer for you: "The Coca-Cola Space Science Center in Columbus, Georgia, plans to webcast the encounter. "We're going to transmit the view through our observatory's 16-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope," says astronomy professor Rosa Williams of Columbus State University. "The webcast begins at 11:30 EST on Monday, Feb. 23rd and will continue until 5 a.m. EST on Tuesday the 24th." Tune in!"

And after Wednesday, Lulin moves away from us, and the moon will start coming back into the sky, making it much harder to see the comet - of course then is when we're expecting our next system to move in, which I'm sure Cody and Aaron will give more details on in the coming days, the models are still having trouble agreeing what will happen.

Happy star/comet gazing!

~KDLT Meteorologist Jesse Ritka

Chilly Start to the Weekend!

Ooooo it was a chilly one!!! And the wind did NOT help things out today. Of course temperatures being at least 10 degrees below normal for practically everybody didn't help much either. A good deal of this chill was brought on by the cold front that swept across the state, NW winds brought down the cold Canadian weather, so "blame Canada" for the cold : ) You can see a nice temperature spread across the state however, so you can definitely tell that some warmer weather is on the way... here's the 7-day:You can see that temps will start to climb for Sunday, but basically we'll see temps jump almost 10 degrees every day for the next 3 days... that of course being before our next system that should hit Wednesday night and into Thursday.

Don't know about you, but I can't wait for the warmer weather to return.

~KDLT Meteorologist Jesse Ritka

Nasty Weather Turns Into Warmth

Well, we've been expecting some snow that we really haven't seen in a while, so check out these webcam shots:


Those are shots from Sisseton and Watertown areas - but things shifted pretty quickly toward the South and the Southwest. The good news is that this blast of winter is fairly short-lived for most of us.

By Sunday we start to warm up again - and look at this map showing computer-model predicted temperatures for Tuesday. For now, it is actually looking like Tuesday will be our 2nd warmest day - with Wednesday being the warmest:


Yup, those are mid-40s on the map for Tuesday's highs over Sioux Falls! Farther to the West we could be pushing 50s!

There ya go! Have a great weekend, and remember that if you are doing any traveling tonight you should dial 511 for the latest road conditions or visit SafeTravelUSA.com/sd for the latest maps and webcam images (just like the ones we posted above).

Take care!

~KDLT Meteorologist Aaron Shaffer

Snow Moving In

Snow is beginning to work it's way into Eastern South Dakota right now and because of that, Winter Weather Advisories have been posted of The northeastern part of South Dakota and for many areas of western Minnesota. Here is a map of what we are expecting in terms of snow totals through tonight courtesy of the National Weather Service.Looks like a band of 2-4" of snow will be found from the Mobridge area through Aberdeen, Watertown, and the Marshall, MN. Lighter amounts are expected to areas south and west. Now, the Winter Weather Advisories are not just for the snow. Unfortunately, the wicked northwest winds will be returning today to blow the snow around that could lead to some travel difficulties. Here is what we are expecting from the winds today at noon, 6pm, and Midnight.

Notice that the winds push their way eastward through the day to include just about everyone by 6pm tonight. So, it looks like winter is back, but only returning briefly because a warm up is in store for us next week.

~KDLT Meteorologist Cody Matz

Lenticular Clouds - As Mentioned On KDLT News At 10pm

Formation (as per Wikipedia):

Where stable moist air flows over a mountain or a range of mountains, a series of large-scale standing waves may form on the downwind side. If the temperature at the crest of the wave drops to or below the dewpoint, moisture in the air may condense to form lenticular clouds. As the moist air moves back down into the trough of the wave, the cloud may evaporate back into vapor. Under certain conditions, long strings of lenticular clouds can form near the crest of each successive wave, creating a formation known as a 'wave cloud'. The wave systems cause large vertical air movements and so enough water vapor may condense to produce precipitation. The clouds have been mistaken for UFOs (or "visual cover" for UFOs) because these clouds have a characteristic lens appearance and smooth saucer-like shape. Bright colors (called Irisation) are sometimes seen along the edge of lenticular clouds.

Snow In The Forecast!

Get ready to break out the shovels and the snowblowers... or maybe just the brooms... it definitely depends where you live just how much snow you'll get.

Right now it is looking like Sioux Falls will pick up a quick inch or so right around the 11am-1pm time period. We'll see if that'll shift by an hour or two by the time snow actually arrives, so keep that in mind.

Here's what we're thinking for the whole area:

In the non-shaded areas it's still possible you'll pick up a quick dusting or snow, but it's not very likely - we'll just probably see a few quick-moving bands of snow break away from the pack. Toward the East is where the bulk of the snow will fall - with some locally heavier areas where the heavier fast-moving snow moves.

Again, for most of us, the accumulating snow should come in a very short period of time, so just because it's snowing hard don't assume you're going to be seeing 8 inches of snow. Just sit tight for a little while and you'll be OK (unless if you live in west-central Minnesota to extreme eastern/northeastern South Dakota).

Have a great night!

~KDLT Meteorologist Aaron Shaffer

Cold Here... And Nasty Weather In The Far South

Well, it's cold here and cloudy - so we're heading down to the deep South.

There you can see some pretty impressive supercell thunderstorms & LOTS of tornado warnings. It's been absolutely insane down there. I've been watching some storm chaser live video footage throughout the afternoon and early evening. Also, they are interesting to follow on radar - earlier a storm with rotation went just to the north of the city of Atlanta, GA.

If you're at all interested in severe weather, take a close look at this picture (you can click it to make it bigger), because we'll be showing you similar images on our KDLT Weather Blog once severe weather season starts for us in the Sioux Empire. Those pink-colored boxes are representing tornado warnings, and the red boxes are severe thunderstorm warnings. If you look closely, most of what you see on that image is over Georgia, with some of eastern Alabama.

Here's a more zoomed in radar image from the storm just to the north of Atlanta:

We'll see if there are any confirmed tornadoes after this storm and the many others fairly soon - and we'll be hoping that if there were any that they went into less populated or just completely unpopulated regions.

That's it for your severe weather update tonight... have a great night & make sure you bundle up!

~KDLT Meteorologist Aaron Shaffer

Wicked Winds of Winter

The windy conditions are back with a vengeance today as wind gusts have come close to 40 mph already. Those will continue through the day today and then begin to calm down tonight. Here is what the winds will look like this afternoon.The southeast will get the brunt of the winds today with the areas in orange having sustained winds of 20-25 mph and areas in red from 25-30 mph. With the combination of cooler air and the ridiculous breeze, wind chills will likely stay at or below zero for most of the day. Now, the winds will eventually calm late tonight. However, that's not always a good thing. Winds help keep the atmosphere mixed, especially at night. Well, when the winds calm, the more dense cold air "falls out of the atmosphere" so to speak and sinks to the surface. This allows temperatures to drop rapidly.

Well, with winds expected to go near calm late tonight, especially across the areas of the north shown circled in the picture above, there could be some areas that drop a good 10-15 degrees just before sunrise tomorrow making it a very cold drive to work tomorrow.

So you better pull out the hats, gloves, and long underwear once again because winter just isn't over yet.

~KDLT Meteorologist Cody Matz

Snow For Friday? Any Warming In Sight (hint: maybe Monday...)?

Well, it's still February - and unfortunately the governing forces of weather are trying to make sure we don't forget it. Our average high is up to 32 degrees now, but that includes both the really warm days and the really cold days. That's why you'll never hear me say that a temperature of 32 is the "normal" temperature - but instead the average.

Anyhow, we are talking about a big cooldown for Wednesday - but then what? Well, it looks like we'll warm up a bit for Thursday and Friday - and then we get a very quick moving "clipper" type of system. The computer models are starting to show some snow coming out of that system. Here's what it's looking like for Friday night:


That is predicted snowfall from one computer model for Friday 6am-6pm, and it makes things look messy for a lot of us. The big question: why will this storm end up any different than the one currently overhead and not giving us any rain or snow? Well, the answer is unclear for now - and we're going to watch as this system develops. The storm overhead right now is a combination of two lighter storm systems that are not utilizing the moisture they have, while this next storm system is coming from a more "continental" area - meaning it should have drier air thanks to the fact that it doesn't originate over the ocean.

Now... back to the potential good news. Just a week ago you heard on our weather blog about how we were going to be warm to start *this* week off - and now you're hearing about another warm-up showing up for the start of *next* week! Get ready for some potential upper 30s to lower 40s (or better) by next Monday!

Look at those temperatures - if those pan out they will be Monday's highs! We can only hope & see what happens... the good news is that the average high for Sioux Falls as of today is at 32 degrees - and has a long way to go upward before June, July, and August.

Have a great Tuesday night!

~KDLT Meteorologist Aaron Shaffer