National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Overview

A prolonged winter storm impacted the broader region from March 24-26, 2024. This system not only produced rain, freezing rain, snow, and gusty winds - but also resulted in travel impacts mostly due to drifting and slippery road conditions across the region.

Initially, this system would start off producing areas of light snowfall across central and eastern SD spreading the accumulations into portions of northwestern IA and southwestern MN during the day on March 24th. While only light snowfall accumulations were reported, slightly warmer temperatures during the afternoon hours would help most of the developing precipitation transition to rain especially south of I-90. However, light rain would gradually transitions to light snow overnight as temperatures cooled. By March 25th, mostly snow would continue into the early afternoon as a lull in activity develops through the evening hours. Lastly, another round of rain/snow would lift northwards during the late evening hours through portions of northwestern IA and southwestern MN. The wintery precipitation would continue through the morning hours of the March 26th before gradually dissipating.

Overall, this prolonged event would produce over 10 inches of snowfall accumulations across the area along with up to 2.50 inches of rain over a three day period. Breezy northwesterly winds behind the system would lead to a few areas of drifting snow along with some minor travel impacts.  

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Storm Total Snowfall: March 24th - March 26th
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