Snow Pack - How much is in your city?

Well with the return of the sunshine and not a cloud in sight . . . I could take this picture of our area with the satellite. When there are clouds, we'd pick those up on here, but since it's pure blue skies today - we can actually have a good idea of what the snow pack looks like. The brighter the white, the more snow, the closer to black, the less snow. With the help of the National Weather Service, I put in some contours of how much snow is piled up in our region. Of course there are some places with locally higher amounts, but this gives a general idea of how much snow is stacked on the ground. In those darker areas, the snow doesn't have the most affect on our temperatures, so where there is less snow, it's going to be easier for temperatures to climb around Sioux Falls, Yankton, Vermillion, Lake Andes, etc. Where there is more snow pack is where you can expect temperatures to stay colder, sorry Wilmont... that 15 inches of snow will really make climbing out of below freezing temperatures hard. But hey - that snow pack could be a lifesaver... check out this interesting story of a woman in Canada who stayed alive because of the snow pack!

~KDLT Meteorologist Jesse Ritka