Iowa Weather Report January 5th 2014 – Iowa Weather Network Archives

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GIFT FROM THE ARCTIC: It’s going to be a cold few days across the state and region with bitter cold air along with some wind bringing very dangerous wind chills as well. Today will be seeing clearing skies as a storm will be departing to our east. There could be some lingering snow across the far southeastern counties of the state through the morning into the early afternoon hours otherwise skies will become partly to mostly sunny. However, temperatures will not respond to the sunshine as readings are likely going to be steady or still falling throughout the day down below zero for many areas by sunset. Tonight will likely be the coldest night across the state in many years, with lows dropping to between -10 and -28 degrees. With the expected winds tonight of about 10-20mph, this will drop wind chills to between -40 and -60 degrees. This is a very dangerous situation that could be life threatening if you are outside for a long period of time. Frostbite will occur in as little as 5 minutes in this type of air. It is best to be bundled up if you have to go out and be sure to bring in pets and make sure to have a winter survival kit in your car in case your battery dies while you may be out and about. This will last at least through Tuesday morning as highs Monday won’t get anywhere near zero and Tuesday morning we’ll see lows down between -5 and -22 degrees.

OMG SEASONAL TEMPS!: Readings will moderate back to near seasonal levels by the middle to end of this coming week with readings back into the 20s and lows back above zero, possibly even into the lower teens. A system will skirt the area on Wednesday into Thursday with some flurry activity that shouldn’t amount to a whole lot at this point. Another weak disturbance on Friday may bring more in the way of some flurries as well.

EXTENDED PERIOD: The GFS continues to show some interesting weather around the middle of the month. Some snow is possible on the 13th and 14th with a clipper system moving into the area. This will bring more cold air in from the north. Along with that, the flow will turn out of the northwest once again and a few days later on the 16th, another clipper system moves in with a chance of some light snow or flurries at that time. Temperatures will moderate back to near seasonal levels by the end of the forecast period, but again this may change in future model runs.