Snow has moved into the western and central counties of the state. The heaviest snow was still west of Interstate 35 and will continue moving east through the afternoon and into the evening hours. Roads have already started to deteriorate in the western counties with partly to completely covered roads there. Conditions will continue to worsen as the day progresses. Snowfall rates of 1-2″ per hour could be possible across central Iowa (especially in the zone from Fort Dodge through Ames (perhaps the northern part of the Des Moines Metro) eastward to Marshalltown, Newton and Grinnell) during rush hour. This too will move east into the eastern counties this evening. Wind will not be a major factor during the snow fall, but with the fluffiness of this snow, any little breeze will blow this snow around. Winds will pick up later tonight and into Tuesday and blowing and drifting snow could become a major problem at that time.

We are still forecasting a swath of 5-8″+ across northwest into central and EC Iowa through early tomorrow morning. If you are planning on travelling this afternoon and evening, take it slow and drive carefully, otherwise if you don’t have to be out, best advice would be to stay at home. Temperatures tonight will drop into the single digits above and below zero which will cause wind chills to go down into dangerous levels. This may be the bigger story for the rest of the week.