A Couple of Spring Storms Look to Bring Back Winter

A couple of storm systems look to impact South Dakota starting as soon as this afternoon and continuing Thursday, ahead of the next system for Friday into Saturday. There is potential for icy and snow accumulations with both systems, but challenges remain in the forecast due to the storm's track, whether easterly winds will bring dry air at the surface, and the timing of precipitation changes to the different types.

Right now, here is what we are looking at. A mixture of precipitation will develop late tonight and become more widespread by Wednesday morning, and continue to spread in coverage by the afternoon.

The precipitation with snow to the north and a mix of rain to the south for the evening hours. Areas of freezing rain are possible with accumulations in the middle. The chances of precipitation continue into Wednesday night.

Moving into Thursday, warmer temperatures may hold on in the southeast, keeping precipitation in the form of rain, while wintry precipitation moves towards the north and west. The west will see a decrease in precipitation as we move through the day on Thursday. By Thursday night, the rain and snow will move eastward into Iowa and Minnesota.

But then the second system will start moving into western South Dakota late Thursday night. More on that storm system will be posted later. Looking at the Tuesday model runs, the American (GFS) and European (ECMWF) models have the bulk of the snow accumulations in north-central and northeast South Dakota, with potential for accumulations over six inches. The Canadian (GEM) model disagrees, bringing much less snow and placing the heaviest amounts in the northeast.

Looking at the ice accumulations, all three major models appear to agree that east-central will see some ice buildup, with significant amounts possible.