Iowa Weather Report February 5th 2015: The Ups and Downs

HEADING UP: Readings will be on the way up as we head toward the weekend. After bottoming out well below zero this morning, readings will be in the upper single digits through the teens and lower 20s across the state for highs today. Skies will be partly to mostly sunny around as well. A warm front will come through tonight that will keep readings from falling to far from the highs of the day. That will bring temperatures up into the upper 20s through the 30s on Friday. Skies will be partly to mostly cloudy however as warmer air will be coming over a large snowpack. This will lead to some light fog as well. Temperatures will be held down into the 30s through the weekend before a disturbance moves through late on Sunday that drops temperatures back into the 20s and lower 30s as we head into early next week.

HEADING DOWN: Temperatures look to rebound back into the 30s Monday and Tuesday before another batch of cold air descends into the state at mid-week. This will come with a clipper system late Tuesday into the first half of Wednesday with a chance of some light snow. At this time, it does not look like a lot of accumulation is likely, but we’ll keep watching the trends to see if that continues. Readings look to be similar to what we experienced last night by later next week with readings at or below zero by Thursday and next Friday morning.

EXTENDED PERIOD: Some active weather is possible according to the GFS through the extended period with several systems possibly moving through the area. The GFS is also showing repeated blasts of cold air from the northwest every few days followed by some moderation thereafter. We’ll watch for this trend in the coming days, but it does look like February will remain somewhat cold for the time being with some brief warm spells here and there.