RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – The KOTA First Alert Weather Team continues First Alert Weather Day Status for Sunday January 19th and Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 20th) due to dangerously cold temperatures.
Winds gusting 20 to 40 mph – most vigorous Monday morning through the afternoon hours – will team up with highs near zero and lows in the teens below to create treacherous conditions for those caught outdoors with exposed skin. Wind chills are expected to be from -25 to -45 below zero. The most bitter cold wind chills are expected in southeastern Montana, the Black Hills, and western South Dakota. These will cause frostbite in as much as 30 minutes to as little as 10 in the more extreme cases mentioned above.
Spend as much time as you can indoors on Sunday and Monday, but if you must travel outdoors… consider wearing many loose-fitting layers, plus hats, gloves, scarves and warm footwear to keep extremities (heads, feet and hands) safe from the biting cold…