The arctic air that has been over us for the past several days is finally moving away. This morning we had the last round of widespread subzero temperatures that we will see for a while.

Temperatures have tried to recover this afternoon, with abundant cloud cover fighting off the sunshine. Even though this afternoon’s temperatures are well below normal, they are an improvement on recent days.

Tonight we will see a strong south wind that will probably gust over 30 mph at times. It will hold our temperatures in the teens to low 20s in all but NE South Dakota. The strong south wind will east a bit early tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be partly to mostly cloudy, but very warm. As we’ve been saying, highs will be in the low 30s in northern South Dakota, and around the 40 mark in Sioux Falls and Rapid City and southern KELOLAND. It will be breezy, with a SW wind turning to the northwest, signaling the return of colder air for Sunday after the one-day warmup.

Sunday will feature mostly sunny skies, though highs will only be in the teens in the north and the low to mid 20s for most of us, with a westerly breeze. Rapid City will be warmer, in the upper 30s.

Temperatures will bounce around next week, though we’ll see a general warming – in fact, above-average temperatures – for the middle of the week.

It looks like our run of dry weather will come to an end next weekend, beginning with a chance of snow as early as Friday, but more likely for Saturday and Sunday, January 15-16.