[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p4RCFA0m40&w=480&h=360]
WEEKEND QUIET: A partly to mostly sunny sky this weekend with highs in the 20s north to 30s south and west today with Sunday highs in the 30s and lower 40s north and east to lower 50s south and west. Clouds will be on the increase late Sunday with the next storm moving in from the west.
MONDAY EVENT: The GFS is still hinting at some precipitation mainly over the eastern half of the state Monday but the bulk of the moisture will stay east of the state. Nevertheless, some rain and or wintry mix will be possible over the eastern counties during the afternoon and evening hours. Colder air will follow in the wake of the storm dropping readings Tuesday back into the 20s to lower 30s for highs at that time.
BIG EVENT: The storm that is grabbing most everyone’s attention is the one coming Thursday and early Friday next week. Right now the path still keeps us on the cold side with snow the main precipitation type across the area. Some wintry mix is possibler in the southeastern counties of the state during the day Thursday as temperatures rise. The main time window right now looks to be between Midnight Thursday morning in SW Iowa to Mid morning Friday over the eastern counties. The heaviest concentration is from early Thursday morning through Thursday evening in western Iowa and early afternoon Thursday through sunrise Friday morning in the eastern counties of the state. Amounts are hard to handle at this time, but several inches of snow are possible with this system. It’s still too early to pinpoint any one amount for any one location but we should have some early projections in the next 24-48 hours as the storm draws nearer. The rest of the month still looks somewhat active (not as much so as previous runs) with readings at or slightly below seasonal averages for the latter half of February.