The National Weather Service in Des Moines and Omaha have issued Winter Storm Watches for a large weather system expected to impact the area Monday through Wednesday. Models have been fairly consistent with this system in recent days, with southern Iowa expected to receive the majority of the heavier snow, similar to the recent storm we had Friday night and into Saturday morning. We expect the system to move begin moving into the area from the west late Monday night and into Tuesday morning and continue moving eastward during the day Tuesday and Tuesday night.

Five to seven inches is anticipated along a line from Shenandoah to Greenfield to Des Moines to Montezuma to Washington and into Wapello. Lighter amounts of three to five inches are expected south of a line from Council Bluffs to Guthrie Center to Grundy Center to Savanna IL. One to three inches are expected north of that line with less than an inch expected in northwest Iowa and extreme north central and northeastern Iowa. We may see this track change multiple times as we go on through time, so make sure to stay tuned for updates later tonight and into tomorrow.

Blowing snow is also possible Tuesday and Wednesday. Sustained winds in the 15-20 MPH range west with lighter winds east will cause visibilities to drop to the three-quarters or possibly even a half mile at times. Wind gusts of 25-30 MPH will not help the matter either and will cause near whiteout conditions at times. You should continue to monitor later forecasts and consider postponing travel plans if you live in the affected area.

We posted this graphic yesterday but I wanted to post it again. It is a very big myth that Iowa is in store for eighteen to twenty inches of snow as some people are predicting. You should not listen to these ‘sources’ if they are predicting that much snow. They do not know the local area as well as our forecasters do and likely are only doing it for ratings and money. Please stay tuned to our non-hyped and realistic forecasts for complete details on the matter.