Iowa Weather Report January 7th 2014 – Iowa Weather Network Archives

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ON THE WAY UP: The coldest of the air will now be behind us as temperatures will be going nowhere but up for the next couple of days. Highs today will actually break above zero for most locations with single digits and even some teens in the southern counties. There will be partly to mostly sunny skies again as well which will not really aid much in the warming process. Tonight temperatures will drop back below zero in the northern half of the state while the southern half will stay above zero. A weak disturbance on Wednesday could bring some flurries of light snow to the southern counties of the state. This doesn’t look to add up to a whole lot. Readings will range from the middle to upper single digits in the north to near 20 near the Iowa Missouri Border.

THE FRIDAY STORM: Another system will come in from the southwest on Friday into Friday night bringing with it a plethora of precipitation to the area. What makes this of interest is that the air temperatures will be near or possibly above freezing. Yes I said freezing, as in 32 degrees (some 40-50 degrees higher than the readings were last night), which could make for the possibility of seeing some rain, wintry mix or some snow across the area. This will be very dependent on temperatures not only at the ground, but also from the clouds to the ground. The precipitation will likely start out early on Friday as either a wintry mix or snow before possibly changing to rain with some wintry mix still possible in the northern and northwestern counties of the state (where the amounts are expected to be lighter if any at all). As the system lifts out Friday night into Saturday morning, colder air will win the battle and the precipitation will change back over to a wintry mix and then snow before ending. This is still a fluid situation as other models have shown lighter precipitation and colder temperatures. We will continue to provide any updates as we get closer.

WEEKEND THROUGH THE END OF PERIOD: This will be quick, a cold front is forecast to come through Sunday bringing the cold but not bitter cold back to the state. Any precipitation with this frontal passage is likely to miss the state but this to may change. We then head back into the northwesterly flow with the parade of clippers. One on the 13th into the 14th, another late on the 15th into the 16th and one on the 18th that could bring a cold blast of arctic air into the state for about a day before temperatures quickly swing back to above seasonal levels by the end of the period. Of course this is speculation at this point.