Iowa Weather Report December 12th 2014: Deck The State with Lots of Clouds

WARMTH AHEAD OF THE STORM: Warmer temperatures are still on track heading into the weekend, but a lot of clouds will be around as well. Highs today will be in the 30s and 40s across the state with them rising into the 40s and 50s by Saturday. Skies will be mainly cloudy through the weekend with some areas possibly getting some sunshine like some of the far eastern counties did yesterday. The next system will move in on Sunday bringing some chances of rain across the state by Sunday night and through the day on Monday. The precipitation will switch over to some snow as colder air filters in from the northwest during the day on Monday and into Monday night. Most of the heaviest precipitation will occur as rain but any leftover moisture will be in the form of snow. Any accumulating snow looks to be confined to the northwestern counties of the state, but this could still change as we move forward. Overall amounts look to be around a half inch of liquid across the state with the heaviest falling late Sunday night through the day on Monday. Temperatures will be held down especially on Monday with the amount of cloudiness and precipitation around. Readings in the 30s and 40s will be commonplace.

BACK COMES DECEMBER: Temperatures will return to seasonal levels for the beginning of next week, but the GFS has a twist in store as a new system will move in late Wednesday night and may affect the area through the following weekend. This could bring some rain and or snow to the state. It’s too early to determine any amounts or accumulations with this system. We will focus on this storm after we get the system Sunday night and Monday out of the way. However this is a system that will need to be watched.

LOOKING PAST CHRISTMAS: Looking into the extended period, the system mentioned earlier will bring cold air back into the state after next weekend. A quick warm up around the 23rd looks to be squelched by an Alberta Clipper system that will sweep across the state Christmas Eve. We may see some snow showers with this system as it moves through which may give us a White Christmas (if we don’t already have snow from the previous system) Readings thereafter look to be slightly below seasonal levels but nothing compared to the bitter cold we experienced in November as yet.