Possible thunderstorms on the horizon in South Dakota

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - Warmer air will return today as the wind becomes more southerly. That will allow southern South Dakota to get into the 40s and even portions of northwestern Iowa and northeastern Nebraska to get into the 50s! We’ll be stuck in the 30s for highs up to the north. Because it’ll be warm enough, some rain will move in Thursday night, and some isolated thunderstorms will even be possible.

We’ve declared Friday as a First Alert Weather Day and a Winter Storm Watch has been issued by the National Weather Service. Colder air will move in, turning the rain to snow by Friday night from west to east, and the wind will increase in strength. The heaviest snowfall amounts look to be across parts of northern and central South Dakota, where we could see a foot or more of snow. We could see 8 to 12 inches of snow in places like Aberdeen and Pierre. In parts of east central South Dakota, especially around Brookings, one to two-tenths of an inch of ice could fall, with a couple of inches of snow on top of that. Around Sioux Falls and the tri-state area, we’re looking at mainly rain during the day Friday, then seeing about two inches of snowfall Friday night. Travel is looking to be impacted Friday night and even into Saturday morning before the sun returns Saturday and temperatures rebound into the 30s and 40s.

Stay with your First Alert Weather Team as we track this storm!