The warming is well underway across KELOLAND. Temperatures were steady or rose overnight, and we are already well above our normal high temperatures for this time of year. There is a patch of mid-level clouds fighting off the sunshine, but a brisk westerly breeze is helping the mercury surge.

2 PM

It will be partly cloudy and exceptionally mild tonight, with lows in the mid 20s to around 30 – which is actually our normal HIGH temperatures for mid-January. Westerly breezes will die down overnight.

Temperatures will be near or only a couple degrees cooler for tomorrow. With a partly cloudy sky and gentle northwest breeze, we’ll have the upper 30s to low 40s East River, and the low 50s in Rapid City.

Temperatures will be a couple more degrees cooler on Thursday, though still above average. Highs will be in the 30s to low 40s with a northwest breeze.

Friday will be our only chance of snowfall this week. It is one of those fast-moving Clipper systems coming in from the northwest, and today’s forecast model data is slightly higher with snowfall totals for KELOLAND. Right now it looks like we could get two to four inches in eastern KELOLAND, a bit less to the west. That is a pretty typical amount for one of those snow systems dropping down out of Canada. Temperatures will also cool, with highs in closer to normal in the mid 20s to low 30s East River. Assuming Rapid City gets only a glancing blow from this system, the western edge of South Dakota will be a bit warmer.

The weekend looks typically breezy as the Clipper moves away to the east.
Saturday will also see temperatures fall back to normal, in the mid to upper 20s, in eastern KELOLAND. Rapid City should quickly return to the 40s.

Sunday looks like the nicer day of the weekend, though it will be breezy as we warm above average, the low to mid 30s East River and upper 30s to low 40s in the west.

Looking ahead to next week, we will start with mild temperatures on Monday and Tuesday before we get another surge of much cooler air for the second half of next week, continuing through the following weekend (January 22-23).