Bitter Cold Arrives Later Tonight/Tomorrow – Iowa Weather Network Archives

BITTER COLD ARRIVING: The cold air from the northwest will be moving into the state today. This will change the precipitation over to a rain snow mix and then to snow by the time the precipitation ends Saturday morning. The northern and western counties will have had snow from the beginning and will see that taper off during the late evening and overnight hours. Some accumulations of a few inches are possible by the time it ends in those areas with lighter amounts farther to the east. Highs today will range from the lower 30s northwest (where temperatures will begin to drop during the afternoon hours) to the middle 40s in the southeastern counties. The temperatures will continue to slide as we head into Saturday with most of the highs being set right after midnight as the cold brisk wind out of the north and northwest kicks in. Wind chills will easily get below zero by midday Saturday in a large portion of the state and by the afternoon hours elsewhere.
By Sunday morning, temperatures look to bottom out in the single digits above and below zero in most areas except the far southeast where they may hang on to some lower teens (due to very little snow cover) We have seen in model runs previously of a chance of some snow in our eastern counties late Saturday but most of the runs of late have that missing the state entirely as of now. Still, the system will be close enough that some clouds will hang tough in our eastern counties which will help to keep readings from heading sub-zero in those areas.
The sun should reappear in the sky on Sunday but it’s not going to warm us up much as temperatures will struggle to reach the double digits in most areas that have a snow cover while the southeastern counties should see readings in the middle to possibly upper teens there. Monday morning could see temperatures once again below zero in at least the northern half of the state while the southern half should see single digits above zero.

NEXT WEEK: A northwesterly flow looks to take over and the first clipper looks to come through late Monday night into early on Tuesday with a chance of some light snow or flurry activity. Minor accumulations are expected at this time. This will reinforce the bitter cold as we head into the middle of the week. A push of warmer air looks to come on Thursday which may boost readings into the 30s in our southern counties with 20s elsewhere in the state through next Friday with a storm approaching from the southwest as we head toward the following weekend.

WHAT THE MODEL SAYS: (This is model data, NOT A FORECAST) The system that was mentioned at the end of the last paragraph is shown to skirt our southeastern counties with a bit of snow on Saturday with another disturbance coming through the following day with a bit more at that time. This is also showing that temperatures will drop back once again into the teens and 20s on Monday the 18th before another warm up is shown through the 21st. On the 21st, the GFS has a system moving through the Plains with another one over the southwest. The first storm looks to move through on the 21st into the 22nd while the one over the southwest traverses across the southern tier of the country through the end of the period. Nevertheless, the model is indicating that the weather pattern could stay active for at least the next two weeks.