We are starting the day with dry weather in much of KELOLAND, but rain chances are on the way. Fog has also impacted parts of southeastern KELOLAND.

Flood watches have already been issued for much of western SD starting tonight through Saturday. Any storm that develops will have the potential to produce heavy rain in this pattern. In addition, widespread rainfall will be likely in the west, with more details below.

We sure could use that rain in eastern KELOLAND. The 30-day numbers are still dropping in many areas.

The Gulf of Mexico moisture that has been limited this summer will be available for these storms. We also have a nice low pressure system that will help lift the air and produce the rain.

Futurecast develops the rain first in western SD, with a slow trend to eastern KELOLAND by Saturday. We can’t rule out some scattered rain on Friday in Sioux Falls, but the best chance will be late Saturday along the path of the low pressure center. Also, the wind will increase from the NW behind the system, something we haven’t seen here for a long time.

The overall rain forecast through Sunday is bullish, with 1-3″ widespread in western SD. We’ll see some larger numbers East River as well, but individual clusters of storms will dictate the placement of the heaviest rainfall.

Here are some of the rain predictions on our various models for the next 3 days.