Dakota Storm Center: Tuesday's Weather Blog

9:00pm

Overview
There is a low pressure system over the Central Plains that continues to develop. A stationary front is stretched East to the mid- Atlantic coastline. A cold front is stretched south into the Southern Plains and a surface trough is stretched North, through the Dakotas.

Discussion
Across our region, there is a lot of cloud cover with hit& miss light rain & snow. Today, the warm area on the map was over the northern edge of our viewing area as temperatures climbed into the upper 30s and through the 40s. Minot got up to 49 and Mobridge reached 50. Northeast North Dakota saw temps well into the 50s for some.

A low pressure system will continue to develop to our south and rain chances will persist across the Northern Plains during the next couple of days with winds picking up at times. Tonight, we will see rising rain & snow chances as a rain system continues to affect our area into Thursday. Through the next few days, rain chances will be off/on and another 1/2" to 1-1/2" of new rain is expected for much of our area with higher accumulations in Southwest North Dakota.

Switching gears a bit, (through April) we have seen a lot of much needed rainfall. This has led to us catching up to and passing up our average rainfall totals for the month and the year (as of this afternoon, Dickinson was 0.14” shy of catching up for the year). More rain will mean even higher totals by this time Thursday.

Headlines include continued rain through the next couple of days. After a brief slow down in rain activity today, we will see rising rain chances tonight with a chilly feel. Skies will remain cloudy through the end of the work week and into the weekend with more scattered rain. As of Tuesday evening, fog was beginning to develop and already becoming dense in parts of the area. Expect overnight fog to continue developing during the next couple of days, as well.

Through the rest of tonight & Wednesday
We will continue to see scattered light rain. After Midnight, rain chances will rise with rain & mix showers becoming likely across the area through the day tomorrow. Temperatures will not fall much and stay in the 30s & 40s with a light to moderate wind out of the East & NE. There will be developing fog for much of the area, becoming dense for some. Tomorrow, expect continued rain/snow chances with little to no snowfall accumulation and winds becoming breezy. temperatures will top out in the 40s with a few 50s.

7day planner
Cloudy skies will continue with off/on rain through the mid week. By the end of the work week we will see some clearing and some warming across the area. Temperatures will top out in the 40s & 50s with rain chances in play as we go into the weekend. This weekend will bring another round of rain chances before skies begin to clear out with the beginning of the work week, followed by warming temps.

Tonight, cloudy skies will continue with rising chances for rain/mix, mainly after Midnight. Lows 34-41 with an East/NE wind 5-15mph. 70% chance for rain with up to 0.25" of new rain expected.

Wednesday, scattered mix and rain will become widespread. Highs in the 40s and lower 50s for some. Winds will be moderate, gusty and out of the NE 10-20mph G30. 70% chance for rain with 0.25"-0.5" of new rain expected.

Wednesday night, expect cloudy skies with a good chance for scattered rain that will start to taper off, after Midnight. Lows 31-38 with a N/E wind, beginning to calm down and chills in the 20s. 50% chance for PM rain with around 0.10" of new rain expected.

Thursday, we will see cloudy skies with scattered mix/rain showers and a cool feel. Highs 48-55 with an East wind 5-15mph. 30% chance for rain with < 0.10" of new rain expected.

Thursday night we will see cloudy skies with continued scattered light rain and a chilly feel. Lows will be in the 30s with a light wind out of the East 2-10mph. 20% chance for rain.