It feels like spring

• Spring snow removal

With the temperature around 52 degrees, Mitchell Parks Supervisor Steve Roth clears melting snow from a parking lot Friday afternoon at Hitchcock Park. The National Weather Service expects the unseasonably warm temperatures in the area to continue through at least next week, with highs in the 60s and lower 70s. (Chris Mueller/Republic)

Talk about it

Spring, it seems, has sprung.

The National Weather Service is forecasting high temperatures in the 60s to lower-70s and little, if any, precipitation through Friday. “It’s going to feel like spring,” said Billy Williams, National Weather Service meteorologist.

The unseasonably warm weather comes not long after Mitchell experienced some of its most severe winter weather of the season, with more than 12 inches of snow falling in the area in the last 10 days of February, according to weather service data.

But temperatures have been warming lately, even reaching 70 degrees Tuesday, well above the weather service average of 45 degrees for March.

Friday’s seven-day forecast indicates a “slight chance” of rain Sunday night.

“Forget about snow or ice, or anything like that,” Williams said.

But he did not rule out the possibility of another winter storm coming through the Mitchell area before the end of the month.

“March is a very volatile month,” he said. “It can go either way.”

Record temperatures also seem to indicate volatility, as the monthly all-time high for Mitchell is 95 degrees in 1943, and the all-time low is minus 23 degrees in 1956.

Williams, who has 30 years of experience as a meteorologist in South Dakota, said anyone who has lived in the state should know a snowstorm is still a possibility.

“It can be cold and snowy in March,” he said, but added there is no sign of that type of weather coming in the near future. “This weather pattern looks like it isn’t going to change for a while,” he said.

Tags: news, updates, weather, winter, warm, spring, local, mitchell, forecast