Wide Range of Weather

With a low pressure system off to the southeast, we are getting a very wide variety of weather this morning across the area. Cold air is diving southward behind the system in western and central South Dakota along with some bands of light to moderate snowfall. In the southeast however, it is a much different scenario with widespread freezing rain and sleet across extreme southeast South Dakota and portions of Minnesota and Iowa. Here is what I'm talking about. This picture is a snapshot of the actual atmosphere at 850mb at about 7am this morning.You can see the very cold air in western South Dakota that is being driven southward toward Nebraska, the arrow will help you out. The other component is circled on the bottom right. Notice the wind barbs face toward warmer air. That means that warmer air is moving toward Sioux Falls in a westerly direction. Warm air advection is a lifting mechanism in the atmosphere which helps form clouds and precipitation. That is one of the main reasons we saw the freezing rain and sleet early this morning in the southeast. Here is a radar snapshot of that precipitation.Also notice, in the surface observations below, that there is a little bubble of warm air in the southeast and very cold out west. That is another sign of that warm air advection.

I hope you like the snow, wind, and cold, because there is lots more to come. Enjoy!

~KDLT Meteorologist Cody Matz