Warm-Up Is A-Comin'

So hopefully you are ready for some more warmth. Unfortunately, I missed the last one because I was visiting California with my girlfriend and her family. I may post a picture or two of me doing things I'd never do or see in the Midwest. Anyhow, I arrived to a warm-up that was stalled for a day. As of early last week it looked like our big warm-up would arrive just in time for me to come back - instead it ended up being the coldest the day I came back...

Here's the low-down with this warm-up. We're looking for a SHARP rebound in temperatures. We're going to be seeing upper-level temperatures that equal or surpass those that helped us get to 52 on Saturday. The question: Will the right ingredients all come together that will give us our warmth? That's something we're going to have to wait until tomorrow to see more of. For now, don't be terribly surprised if we actually get warmer than our forecasted highs both on Wednesday and Thursday.

Here's what the computer models are thinking, and you'll see why - this first one is Wednesday's highs. Remember that these are just computer thoughts, and they aren't able to account for everything:

Look at the sharp contrast in temperatures. Upper 20s in western MN and eastern SD all the way to 50s in western SD. Notice how sharp the gradient (or contrast) is. If things move just 50 miles east or west we could see drastic temperature swings. For now we're expecting a high of about 27 in Sioux Falls. We'll see what the final temperature ends up being.

Here's what we're looking at for Thursday - that looks to be the best day. The temperature contrast relaxes a bit, and warmth flows even into NE South Dakota and into Minnesota:

We could end up close to 50 very close to Sioux Falls and eastern SD. We'll keep a close eye on that, as well as some potential snow on Sunday-Monday. If things keep up the way they are looking we'll be talking a lot more about that over the next couple of days.

Have a great night!

~KDLT Meteorologist Aaron Shaffer