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Snow Continues in the Great Lakes; Above Normal Temperatures in the West

Lake effect snow will continue into the weekend as two more quick moving systems will bring widespread snow to the Upper Great Lakes. High winds are expected across portions of Montana through the weekend. Below normal temperatures will remain in place across much of the southern and eastern U.S., while the western U.S. will experience above normal temperatures. Read More >

Overview

A strong low pressure system tracked from Wyoming across the state of South Dakota on Friday, January 17th and Saturday, January 18th. Ahead of the low, strong southerly winds combined with falling snow to produce widespread blowing snow and even blizzard conditions for some east of the Missouri River. Freezing drizzle and freezing rain were observed across the area at times as well on Friday. By Friday evening, a brief lull in the winds allowed for improvements to the visibility, but blizzard conditions swiftly returned on surging northwest winds from west to east across the state, beginning roughly at the Missouri River around 8 pm (no or too little blowable snow further west). Ground blizzard conditions then continued through much of the day Saturday across northeastern South Dakota and west central Minnesota. Very cold air moved in with the northwest winds as well. Impacts included road closures such as I-29 across all of eastern SD from 7pm on the 17th through 3pm 18th (portions of I-90 too) as well as other roads for even longer than that in some cases, power outages, and many vehicles in ditches. 

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Surface weather map at 6pm on Friday, January 17th
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