Iowa Weather Report January 15th 2015: Enjoy The Warmth

THROUGH THE WEEKEND: Temperatures are continuing the upward swing for the next few days. Highs today will be in the upper 20s and lower 30s northeast to the 40s in the southwestern counties. Skies will be partly to mostly sunny. Heading into Friday we could see some 50s in the southwestern counties of the state if snow is completely melted there. The rest of the state will see 30s and 40s with the amount of snow cover remaining determining how warm some places may be able to get. Looking at the weekend, a cold front moves through on Saturday that will bring the readings back down into the 20s and 30s for highs on Sunday, but we may be able to squeak out another warm day on Saturday. There will be more clouds around and there is a slight chance we could see some light precipitation. This would mainly be aimed at the northeastern quarter of the state. It doesn’t look to be a big issue at this point but we’ll continue to monitor it in the coming days.

NEXT WEEK: Temperatures look to start out slightly above seasonal levels before levelling back toward or perhaps a bit below seasonal levels by the end of next week. A system looks to drop in by next Thursday that could bring some snow to the state at that time, but with a system to the south over Texas, moisture will be limited with the system that will effect us. We’ll have to see in coming days if these systems were to phase or merge which could bring more significant weather to the area at that time.

EXTENDED PERIOD: The GFS is showing some active weather as we head toward the end of the month with us square in line with the northwesterly flow coming out of Canada. Several systems are depicted that could bring us some snow at that time. It will also bring continued rounds of arctic air that look to last a day or two before moderating for a day and then returning after the next system blows on through. One thing is for certain, that the cold weather isn’t done with the state yet.