Iowa Weather Report December 18th 2013 – Iowa Weather Network Archives

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JUST A LITTLE ICY: Today will be very warm for this time of year with readings well above freezing across the state, with some areas in the southern third to half of the state seeing temperatures into the 40s. This will be short lived however as a system will approach from the west on Thursday. It may start out as some rain in the south and some wintry mix/freezing drizzle in the north Thursday afternoon before changing over to freezing drizzle/freezing rain and or snow as the system departs early on Friday. A lot of moisture will be to the south of the area so any icing will be minimal at best. Any accumulating snow will be under an inch if that, any rainfall will be under a tenth of an inch. Not what I’d call a major storm by any means.

WEEKEND INTO CHRISTMAS: A storm that will develop to our south and race to the northeast is still expected to skim the southeastern counties of the state with some snow or flurries on Sunday. Accumulating snow is possible, but it’s still too early to determine that at this point. Readings will be dropping back into the 20s on Sunday and Monday as cold air returns from the north and northwest. Winds will turn back to the southwest on Christmas Eve with a clipper system approaching from the northwest. This would boost temperatures into the 30s for most of the state except the far northeastern counties. Christmas Eve night, the front will move through with a chance of some light snow or flurries but nothing much of any accumulation at this time. Christmas looks to be cold with a chance of a few flurries especially in the northern counties with highs in the upper teens north to middle 20s south.

THROUGH NEW YEARS: A clipper system may bring some light snow or flurries on the 27th into the 28th. This looks to be followed by a moderation in temperatures back to near the freezing mark across the state. This only last a day or two before another system moves in with some snow on the 30th, which could be significant, but this could be gone on the next model run so we’ll just have to watch trends at this point on this system. Temperatures look to drop back into the 20s for highs as we head into the New Year with it remaining mainly dry at this time.