What's that white stuff falling from the sky? It's snow! - KTIV News 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and Sports

Parts of Siouxland are seeing something they haven't seen in quite a while: snow. A wide band of snow was moving through the northern half of the region at midday on Friday. At the KTIV studios on the north side of Sioux City, snow was falling moderately at 12:30pm. Accumulations of less than two inches were expected in northwest Iowa.

Parts of the Dakotas are in for a snowy weekend. The National Weather Service has posted a winter weather advisory for central and east central South Dakota through Friday, and a winter storm watch for the north central and northeast parts of the state Saturday afternoon through Sunday morning.

KCCR radio reported that as much as 5 inches of snow had already been reported in parts of central South Dakota.

It's been a long stretch without the white stuff for many parts of the Midwest. Des Moines, Iowa matched a record set in 1889 on Thursday when it hit its 277th consecutive day without measurable snowfall. Omaha, Nebraska broke its record Wednesday when it hit its 285th consecutive snowless day, and Lincoln has extended its new record to 297 days without measurable snow.

National Weather Service experts say the records are in part due to last winter being so mild and the drought-parched land sucking up any precipitation that does fall.