Big Storm Question: How Much? And Of What?

We're still closely watching this unusual February storm that's headed our way, and it continues to look interesting...

In Sioux Falls we've seen estimates of totals ranging from 0.25" of liquid precitipitation all the way up to about 1" or more. If that all fell as snow, that would give us about 2.5-3.5" all the way up to 10" or more.

That being said, the biggest concern is the potential or non-potential for freezing drizzle on Sunday night. Assuming we get enough sunshine earlier in the day we'll get above freezing far enough that when rain starts to fall it will stay that way - but look at that red line in the image above. That is the temperature throughout the atmosphere, as that image shows temperature from the surface (the bottom) to the top of the atmosphere. If you look closely you'll see the number zero on the bottom. That is the freezing mark. Follow that diagonal dotted line up and you'll see the red line moves to the right of it - that means it's above freezing. A fairly significant portion is actually above freezing, indicating rain potential if something is happening at that time. For now I am only mention a slim shot at drizzle that could freeze for Sunday night, and looking for most of it to melt away fairly quickly due to rising air temperatures and warmer ground temperatures.

Make sure you stay tuned over the next couple of days though! This one is looking quite interesting, and could change significantly by Sunday night.

Have a great weekend!

~KDLT Meteorologist Aaron Shaffer