Iowa Weather Report January 22nd 2014 – Iowa Weather Network Archives

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SUB-ZERO COLD: Not much change in thinking with regards to the colder than average temperatures through the rest of the week and into the weekend. A few light snow showers or flurries will be possible in the eastern counties of the state through the morning hours with skies clearing off to our west. Highs will be in the single digits and teens across the state with some lower and middle 20s in the far southern and southwestern counties where there is no snow pack on the ground at this time. Another night of sub-zero readings will follow tonight with some areas in the north dropping into the teens below zero with partly cloudy skies around. Thursday will be mainly sunny but still rather chilly with highs near zero in the north and northeastern counties to the lower and middle teens in the far southwest.

SNOWY WEEKEND: A warm front will move through the area late Thursday night into Friday switching the winds around more out of the west. This will tend to have the temperatures rise after Midnight Friday morning and rise into the 20s east to perhaps the lower and middle 40s out west. Don’t take this as a long term deal though because another clipper system is in the offing to our northwest and will crash through the state late Friday night into Saturday with some snow possible. Current thinking indicates that the heaviest snowfall amounts will be over the northern and northeastern counties of the state but this is still a fluid situation at this point and may change even ever so slightly. What it will do is drop the temperatures back down following the system for the weekend. Saturday will see readings dropping back into the teens and lower 20s again if not colder. Skies will remain partly to mostly cloudy for most of the day although a peak or two of sunshine can’t be ruled out. In case you don’t think that snow will be enough, another quick moving clipper system rolls back into the state late Saturday night through the day on Sunday. This too will bring some accumulating snows to the area as well. The GFS is indicating that the heaviest snow with this system will be in a swath from NW through Central into Southeast Iowa, but as mentioned with the earlier system it may still change ever so slightly so stay tuned for the latest. The first few days of next week will be cold with highs struggling in the single digits and lower teens and lows below zero once again.

HEADING ON OUT TO FEBRUARY: Nothing really changes as we end the month of January and move into February, more cold arctic intrusions into the area and some chances of snow. The best and most significant shot at snow looks to be on the 3rd and 4th with a system that will come in from the west and southwest. This is different as this will bring some gulf moisture into the system thus bringing with it more snow. This could be, if this pans out, the most significant snow of the season so far. Again however, this is still two weeks out, so don’t go out and stock up on food just yet. We have plenty of time to see if the trend continues. What we’ll also have to keep our eye on is the large high pressure center over Canada that will follow in the wake of the system. A 1060mb high is no laughing matter. That will easily bring readings down to where we saw them about two weeks ago, well below zero for highs and lows near record levels. Aren’t you glad I wrote this long report just to tell you it’s going to stay cold. Happy Winter!