National Weather Service offices in Sioux Falls and Aberdeen have issued Winter Storm Warnings for parts of the area. Counties included in the Winter Storm Warning are Beadle, Kingsbury, Hand, Spink, Clark, and Miner. Cites include Huron, Miller, De Smet, Redfield, Willow Lake and Howard. A Winter Weather Advisory is posted for Jerauld, Sanborn, Hanson, Buffalo and Hyde Counties and includes the cities of Wessington Springs, Woonsocket, Highmore, Alexandria and Gann Valley. The weather service is expecting an isolated area of heavy snowfall with sharply lesser amounts on either side of the heavy band…THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SIOUX FALLS HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW…WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO NOON CST THURSDAY.
- TIMING…PRECIPITATION WILL SPREAD ACROSS THE AREA LATE THIS EVENING AND TAPER OFF BY MIDDAY THURSDAY. THE PRECIPITATION COULD BEGIN AS A MIX OF RAIN…FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET…BUT ANY MIX SHOULD CHANGE OVER TO ACCUMULATING SNOW SHORTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT.
- ACCUMULATIONS…SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 5 TO 7 INCHES ARE EXPECTED IN EAST CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA. A LIGHT GLAZE OF ICE ACCUMULATION MAY PRECEDE THE SNOWFALL.
- WIND AND VISIBILITY…WINDS WILL NOT BE STRONG TONIGHT. HOWEVER AS THURSDAY PROGRESSES…NORTH TO NORTHWEST WINDS WILL INCREASE TO 20 TO 30 MPH WITH SOME HIGHER GUSTS. VISIBILITY DURING THE HEAVIEST SNOWFALL LATE TONIGHT THROUGH EARLY THURSDAY WILL LIKELY BE A HALF
MILE OR LESS AT TIMES. BLOWING SNOW AS THE WINDS INCREASE COULD ALSO REDUCE VISIBILITY TO LESS THAN A MILE IN OPEN AREAS.