Iowa Weather Report December 30th 2014: Two Day Chill To End The Year

THE COLD SHOT: It will be cold for the next few days across the state with readings well below seasonal levels for the end of December. Highs today will be in the single digits and lower to middle teens across the state. There will be plenty of sunshine around both today and tomorrow. Highs on Wednesday will be a bit warmer with teens to around 20 for most locations. Lows tonight will drop below zero in snow cover areas with single digits above zero elsewhere.

WEEKEND STORM: As we head toward the end of the week, skies still remain partly to mostly sunny with readings inching up into the 20s for most of the state. The next storm system will move into the state Saturday and into the first part of Sunday. This run has the low farther to the east and southeast. This means that most if not all of the precipitation will be in the form of snow. It also looks like most of the heaviest precipitation will miss the state as well, so any accumulations look to be lighter than what was seen over the last few days. What is still on tap is the strong winds following this system on Sunday which will bring blowing snow around and could create some travel issues. With this variation in the storm track, we’re still not confident on snow totals for the state at this time. We should get a better handle on this system in the next day or two.

NEXT WEEK AND BEYOND: Another quick moving system will drop in from the northwest on Monday and Tuesday bringing some light snow to the state. Like the previous system, it’s too early to determine snowfall accumulations at this time, but it will be something that we’ll be monitoring. Readings look to be a touch below seasonal levels early next week as cold air from Canada tries to make inroads into the state. Looking into the extended period, the GFS is showing a quick warm up around the 8th of January ahead of a system that will bring some significant weather around the 9th. This looks to be followed by another shot of colder air and more active weather as we head into the middle of the month.