The National Weather Service has issued a series of Winter Storm Watches for extreme southern South Dakota (see NWS map above). Western counties fall under the watch Saturday, with counties in the southeast under a watch for Sunday into Monday. Mike Fuhs with the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls says the advance notice shows the power of a system winding up off the Pacific Coast.
The storm system is expected to dump heavy rain and snow on California and other states in the Western U.S. Rapid City meteorologist Kyle Carstens says most of the weekend could bring difficult travel to part of his forecast area.
Anyone with travel plans is urged to keep updated with local media and the weather.gov site. Updated road report information is available online at safetravelusa.com/sd or by calling 511 on any phone in South Dakota.