Parts of southeast South Dakota saw 15 inches of snow today. Kyle Weisser is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls. He says the snow totals are drastically different depending on location.
“For the most part I would say you could probably draw a circle from about southern Sioux Falls down towards Parker, Lennox, maybe around to Beresford and back out towards Larchwood,” Weisser says. “That little area in there is probably somewhere between 12 and 15 inches. So I mean the big difference, you look at southern Sioux Falls had about 14 inches of snow, and the airport on the north of town had six, and Dell Rapids is right around one to two inches.”
Weisser says the worst is over for most of South Dakota. But he expects I-29 south of Sioux Falls to be messy for a while.
An official with the South Dakota Department of Transportation is advising travelers in the southeastern part of the state to stay off of the roads. Public information officer Kristi Sandal says highways are snow packed and slippery, with limited visibility.
“The crews are out but we do have no travel advisories all the way from west of Tyndall, up to Highway 42, over to the Iowa border, down to Sioux City,” Sandal says. “It hasn’t quite gotten up to Sioux Falls, but south of there it’s pretty treacherous. So we’d prefer people to not travel people in that area if at all possible.”
Sandal says travelers who do need to be on the road should slow down and give the plows plenty of room.
One to three inches of snow fell in parts of western South Dakota today. Jeff Johnson is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Rapid City. He says the snowfall is beginning to decrease.
“Most likely the heavier snow will fall into the southern Hills, Fall River County in far southwestern South Dakota,” Johnson says. “But most areas are just going to see this light snow, you know, gradually taper of this evening and then end certainly by midnight tonight.”
Johnson says the area will see its coldest night of the season so far. He says to expect temps from five to 15 above.