Iowa Weather Report February 12th 2015: No Warmth Seen

ARCTIC BLASTS: Several blasts of Arctic air will be the main forecast topic for the next several days with the first in a series of them moving in today. Highs will only make it back into the teens for most of the state. The northern and northeastern counties of the state may not make it out of the single digits. Skies will be partly to mostly sunny with more clouds increasing later on in the day with a disturbance that will quickly move through the state very late tonight into Friday that may bring some chances of some light snow or flurries. At this point it doesn’t look like a big deal regarding any accumulations. The second blast of Arctic air will be preceded by another clipper system on Saturday that may also be some light snow or flurry activity to the area. This does look a bit stronger than the one later on tonight into Friday, but any accumulations will be very light, likely a dusting to a half inch at best. Sunday morning will be well below zero for most of the state except the far western counties with readings in the northeastern counties dropping into the -10s.

NEXT WEEK: Cold Blast #3 will be making its appearance early next week with a storm that according to this model run will just miss the state to the south. Still the chances are there for some snow across the far southern counties of the state. We have not seen good model consistency with this system early next week so it is still up in the air as to what this system could bring to the area. What we do know for sure is that it will reinforce the cold air back into the state for several more days. Another clipper system will be approaching by next Thursday with more cold air in its wake.

MORE COLD BLASTS: Looking into the extended period, another blast of cold air will make an appearance by the following weekend (21st-22nd), this will be preceded by another light snow event. Another blast of cold air follows that around the 24th and 25th. Looking toward the end of the month, there are signs of a pattern change with the flow turning more out of the west, however cold air will be hard to get rid of, so readings look to stay below average at least through the end of the month.