Winter Storms Could Dump 24" Snow in South Dakota

A massive winter storm could dump as much as 24" of snow by Thursday in parts of South Dakota. Affected areas will stretch from western Oklahoma and central Kansas all the way to Minneapolis.

The city of Cheyenne, WY has completely shut down and the Tribune Eagle reports that all non-essential services have been canceled and employees asked to go home and avoid unnecessary travel. Around 6 to 12 inches of snow are forecast there. North to northeast winds are sustained at 20 to 30 miles per hour with gusts of over 45 mph, possibly causing damage. Visibilities will be reduced to a quarter mile or less at times. Wind chills will be as low as 10 degrees. There are possible whiteout conditions there.

Sioux Falls, SD is ground zero for the storm. There could be as much as 24" of snow dumped there by Thursday. Interstate 90 is closed and motorists who travel on a closed section of Interstate could be fined up to $1000. If authorities have to rescue someone stranded on such a road, stranded motorists could be charged up to $10,000 to cover the costs of the rescue.

KSFY TV also reports that power outages are possible for the area. Parents are fearing for the safety of school children there and many state offices are closed.

Winter storm warnings are also in effect for southern Minnesota. The National Weather Service there reports a powerful storm system will produce a couple of rounds of wintry precipitation over the next couple of days. The first round will be a wintry mix of rain, freezing rain, and sleet across most of southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin. By late Wednesday, the weather is forecast to change over to heavy snow, with accumulations of 10 to 12 inches. The storm will continue there until Thursday evening.

The Omaha World Herald reports that snow will hit much of Nebraska, with Omaha being the eastern edge of the storm. In western Nebraska, authorities were searching for a mother and a son who were stranded. Most roads in the Panhandle are closed, as is Interstate 80. The storm was accompanied by freezing rain, winds as high as 60 mph, and record low temperatures. Heavy rain in Omaha canceled the minor league baseball game there.

In central and southern Kansas, an unusual combination of snow and hail is forecast to hit the area. Severe thunderstorms are forecast to hit the area tonight, followed by winter weather until Wednesday evening.

In Oklahoma, the Weather Service there reports storms with the potential for tornadoes, 70 to 80 miles per hour winds, and baseball sized hail. There is also the possibility of snow or sleet as far south as far northwest Texas. In Altus, OK, the temperature dropped precipitously, falling from a high of 82 that afternoon to 38 as of 8:00 Tuesday night.

The southern edge of this weather system is in New Mexico, where the weather is unseasonably cold there. Freeze warnings and hard freeze warnings have been issued by the Weather Service throughout much of the state and higher elevations are forecast to get as much as a foot of snow.