A strong winter storm earlier this week brought freezing temperatures, high winds and up to22 inches of snow in parts of the Black Hills.
Dave Hintz is a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Rapid City. He thinks the bad weather could turn into a good thing.
“A lot of it is probably already started to melt, so it's not going to stick around all that long. We'll start eating away at it," he said. "The ground isn't frozen yet, so a lot of it'll go in and a lot of it’ll run off in some streams and lakes, which desperately needed to be recharged, to stock dams and stuff like that. I don't think there's very many people that are turning this down."
Hintz says any rain or snow is a welcome relief, because much of South Dakota has been experiencing moderate to extreme drought conditions.
Hintz says warmer temperatures this weekend should melt any remaining snow. Most of West River should see highs in the 60s and 70s.
