Iowa Weather Report January 30th 2015: Happy Times for Snowmobilers

WEEKEND FUN: A storm system will be approaching from the southwest as we head into the weekend which will bring a plethora of precipitation to the state at that time. In the meantime today skies will be partly to mostly sunny across the state. Winds will be calmer than they were on Thursday but readings will be much cooler as well with highs today in the 20s and 30s across the state with some lower to middle 40s mainly in our western counties. Clouds will be on the increase tonight and a rain snow mix will break out in our southern and southwestern counties of the state by the morning hours on Saturday and move through the rest of the state during the afternoon and more into the evening and overnight hours. Most of the precipitation during the overnight hours will be in the form of snow as well as on Sunday as colder air will filter in behind the system. Snowfall amounts are still a bit up in the air as models are just starting to get a better handle on this system, however confidence is somewhat high that the heaviest snowfall looks to be over the southern counties of the state. There are still several factors that could change the snowfall amounts and where they may end up. If the high pressure that is moving in behind the system were to come in a bit faster, that could move most of the precipitation into southern Iowa and the heavier snowfalls could end up in Missouri. If the precipitation begins as rain in the southern counties and lasts longer than what is forecast now, that could squelch amounts down there by a bit as well. We should have a better handle on this system sometime later today. Readings on Saturday will be in the 20s and lower 30s across the state with slowly falling temperatures on Sunday as the cold air sets in. The snow should come to an end Sunday night across the state and skies should begin to clear slowly at that time as well which could lead to readings dropping well into the single digits in some areas.

INTO NEXT WEEK: Cold air looks to be the main story next week with a few disturbances that could bring some more snow to the state at that time. The best chances look to be on Tuesday and again on Wednesday with reinforcing shots of cold air coming in from Canada. It’s too early to determine any amounts with these systems at this time, but it will watched as they move closer. Readings will be down into the teens and lower 20s for highs with lows in the single digits above and below zero. These readings could go even lower if we were to have clear skies and light winds with fresh snow on the ground. The cold air looks to last through the rest of the week before temperatures moderate heading into the following weekend.

LOVE IS IN THE AIR: As we look into the extended period which takes us through Valentine’s Day, the GFS is showing a system that could bring some more snow to the state around the 12th and 13th of February, but confidence is low with this system still being about two weeks out. It is also showing that readings will likely be near seasonal levels for the time period with some cooler spells mixed in. We are not seeing any Arctic blasts during the period but you never can tell what can happen in the next run.