For the first time since I was a young four years old or so, I ventured across the Missouri River to "West River" South Dakota.

What I forgot was how much different this state can be on one end compared to another.

My journey to Rapid City started on Wednesday morning as I left from the studios here in Sioux Falls. The temperature was around 20 degrees on late Wednesday morning, not terribly cold but still cold.

As I headed west, the temperature reading in my car continued to increase. 30 by the time I hit Mitchell, and 35 in Plainkinton. Temperatures were going to increase throughout the day, but the rate in which it was increasing was surprising.

Then I approached the Missouri River and Chamberlain and was met by this.

Weather
Jerry Palleschi/Results Radio
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Yep, I'd be going full front into this storm. Perfect timing on my part. The temperature reading in my car started falling as I crossed the bridge. As I crossed into the western part of the state, the temperature quickly fell to 32.

That caused not only a downpour within the storm, but little pieces of ice started to fall. The storm itself only took four minutes to get through. Afterwards? Back up to around 37-40 degrees.

Rapid City was a beautiful 55 upon my arrival. It certainly didn't stay that way. A front came through the city that evening and dropped the temperature on Friday and added a little trace of snow. That snow instantly melted as it hit the former warm ground.

I took a look outside my hotel window on Saturday morning to find a good inch of snow in downtown Rapid City. It was enough to get my car partly covered (think this morning in Sioux Falls). The wind increased as it stayed cold throughout the entire day.

Yesterday morning as I packed up and left Rapid, it was just 14 degrees and cloudy. One hour out of Rapid, it was 25. By the time I entered Sioux Falls in the afternoon, it was a clear sky and 35.

Add in the fact that I woke up to that trace of snow on my car this morning and it just showed how different this state can really be.

Overall it was an interesting sight to see how much everything changes. Within the last four days, I've experienced high temps, low temps, high winds, low winds, a downpour, and a snowstorm.

I guess the common theme is that no matter where you are in this state, you'll experienced everything. Call it our own form of March Madness.

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