Iowa Weather Report February 24th 2015: Cold, Snow, Lousy Weather

THE COLD WILL RETURN: We’ll have a brief respite from the bitter cold today with readings getting into the 30s and lower 40s across the state. Skies will be partly to mostly sunny. However, this will not last as a storm will move in from the northwest late tonight into Wednesday and Wednesday night with some light snow. Accumulations of 1-3” are possible across mainly the western 2/3rds of the state with some isolated heavier totals as well. Far southwestern Iowa may see the precipitation begin as a mix of rain and snow before transitioning over to all snow Wednesday night so the amounts there could be a bit lighter. Readings will then tumble back into the teens for highs on Thursday and Friday with lows heading back to the single digits above and below zero for most of the state.

WEEKEND EVENT: Another storm will be taking shape over the southwest and will move in our direction as we head into the weekend. Saturday will be mainly dry with increasing clouds throughout the day. Highs will be in the teens and 20s. Snow will move in late Saturday night through the day on Sunday. The heaviest snow will likely fall during the day Sunday with southern Iowa showing the best chances for heavier accumulations. It’s still too early to determine amounts at this point, but we should get a better handle on this system by Thursday or Friday as the system will be taking shape at that time. Some cooler air will filter in behind this system as we head into early next week with another possible Arctic blast behind another clipper by next Tuesday.

INTO THE EXTENDED PERIOD: The GFS is showing another cold blast coming back in the middle of next week behind the system mentioned above however it looks to only last Wednesday and Thursday of next week with readings modifying thereafter. Temperatures look to stay below average for at least the first week of March before warmer readings come toward the end of the period. We have seen this trend with the GFS with the warmer readings coming around the second week of March, however this is still two weeks out and we could see something totally different in a couple of days. Here’s hoping that the warmer weather comes sooner rather than later.