Iowa Weather Report February 23rd 2015: A Brief Warm Spell Tuesday, Then Cold Again

MORE COLD DAYS: The cold temperatures look to continue for several more days as the northwesterly flow continues over the area. Highs today will be in the single digits and teens for most of the state with lower 20s possible in the southwestern counties of the state. There will be a brief warm up Tuesday ahead of another clipper that will move through later in the afternoon with a chance of a few snow showers or flurries. Readings on Tuesday look to reach the 30s and even a few lower 40s in the western counties but again those temperatures will be history as the Arctic air floods back in with highs back down into the teens by Wednesday and lows in the single digits above and below zero. Another disturbance will follow in the wake of Tuesday’s frontal passage with some light snow possible in the southwestern counties of the state. Some light accumulation is possible with this. We should have a better handle on the amounts later on today.

THE WEEKEND: The next system begins to take shape off to our west and southwest as we head into the weekend. A piece is forecast to move to the east-northeast and may bring some wintry precipitation to the state Saturday night and especially Sunday across the state. Models have wavered on what type of precipitation we may see with this system as temperatures look to warm into the 30s in the southern counties on Sunday which may see some freezing rain or sleet while the north should see all snow. We’ll watch this system for a few more days to get a better handle on this system before attempting to discuss any possible amounts or accumulations.

TOWARD THE IDES OF MARCH: As we look into the extended period, temperatures still look to remain below seasonal levels through the period with a possible warm up toward the end of the period around the 10th of March. The GFS is showing a few systems near the state but timing those out this far in advance is rather fruitless with the inconsistency the models have been showing during this period. One trend that has been ongoing during the period has been that the Arctic blasts look to abate as we head into March but models can change quickly so we have to just keep watching for any trends in the coming days.