Notice on this last image that the Arctic air has a straight line between us and the North Pole. I like to call this the Polar Express just because its a straight shot from us to the North pole and the cold air will have the least amount of moderation in Temperature. So, bundle up and stay warm come Sunday.
I used this to "trick" my co-anchors for the 6pm show tonight. If you don't know any better it looks like any house anywhere, Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa... Louisiana?
Notice the 25 degree BELOW ZERO temperature over Montana. Now, those temperatures aren't necessarily what we'll see or they'll see, but it'll definitely be somewhere in that neighborhood.
Here is what this model is forecasting in amount of liquid precipitation.
I think this model is a bit over done on the amounts but a Northwest to Southeast orientated band of snow could definately disperse 1 to 2 inches of snow in some local spots. Looks like the majority of us wont see much if anything at all though so dont get your hopes up if you are counting on the snow. We will continue to update you on the big arctic blast expected next week, so check back in tomorrow. 
You'll notice highs only in the single digits and close to zero... that is scary stuff, but not unheard of for this year. We're going to be keeping a close eye on just how far south that air is heading. For now we are being fairly cautious due to the long-term forecast nature of this cold air. Make sure to stay tuned to us the next few days on KDLT for the latest forecasts to see just how cold it's going to be next week.
As you see, much warmer off to the west where parts of Montana are in the 40's! We aren't expecting to get that warm today with the exception of places with very little snow on the ground, like Winner and Valentine, NE, but you can expect 30's across areas of the west and upper 2o's across the east today. Snow cover plays a BIG role in determining temperatures. Typically the more snow on the ground, the harder it is for the temperatures to warm. Here is a map of the current snow cover across the state.
Enjoy the warmer temperatures!
This was a webcam image from the intersection of I-29 and 41st Street in Sioux Falls. It was from just before 6pm, and it was cold already! It even looks cold in this picture... Make sure you are ready for temperatures closing in on zero or even below. It wouldn't surprise me to see a couple reports of 2 or 3 degrees *below* zero for low temperatures.
Looks interesting, so if you try it out you can let me know your thoughts. Take care if you're driving tonight anywhere, and get ready for that cold!
It seems like this storm is still behaving as predicted, so that is good. We'll update you again if anything changes - you can read the posts below for some earlier information on this storm.
If you look at those green patches you can see some heavier precipitation showing up. Unfortunately we don't have any true observations from that area, but there is a chance that is heavier snow and we can see it getting wrapped into the eastern South Dakota area and trending east toward NW Iowa. That's what we'll need to watch. Between now and our 10pm show is when we should expect the bulk of our snow to fall in the Sioux Falls area.
That image above is from what's known as the RUC model, or the Rapid Update Cycle. It's not quite as accurate, but the computers run through it once every hour. What it is showing us future precipitation and that the computer models are starting to agree with my assessments above - so we'll see if it ends up that way by the end when we start listing snowfall totals. We'll update you on here as necessary - and drive safely!