A fresh layer of snow coated Mitchell Monday as a week of warmer temperatures approaches.
Mitchell received 2.5 inches of snow Monday in a storm that lasted from about 5 a.m. to 11 a.m, according to Tim Masters, a technician for the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls.
"This is just a miniscule little bit of snow in January. It was just a quick little storm that came through this morning, and that's it for the week," Masters said.
Monday's accumulation adds to an already higher-than-normal amount of snowfall for the winter. From Nov. 1 to Monday, Mitchell has received 33.7 inches of snow. NWS meteorologist Matthew Dux said Mitchell receives about 30 inches of snow in a typical winter.
Menno received one-half inch of snow Monday. Eight-tenths fell in Sioux Falls, and a trace was seen in Vermillion, Masters said.
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Observed snowfall for other towns was not available, but Masters said the snowfall was greatest in towns west of Mitchell. In Academy, about 10 miles northwest of Platte, 3 inches was observed by 9 a.m.
The storm led officials to postpone a One-Act Play competition, made up of Class B schools from region 4, which includes Armour, Corsica-Stickney, Ethan, Freeman Academy, Menno, Mount Vernon and Plankinton high schools. The event was planned to take place on Tuesday at the Pepsi-Cola Theatre in Mitchell, but was pushed back to Thursday.
Masters said the rest of the week is expected to be dry with moderate temperatures, starting with a cool day in the mid- to upper 20s Tuesday and concluding with the warmest day of the week on Friday, with highs in the low 40s.
Into the first couple days of February, NWS is monitoring a potential storm, but with warmer temperatures, the system could bring rain instead of snow.
"It looks like something might be coming together by then, but until then, it looks dry," Masters said.
