A Potpourri of Wintry Fun – Iowa Weather Network Archives

RAIN AND SNOW: You can say goodbye to the sun for a while as clouds will be increasing through the day with a chance of some rain and snow in our western counties by the afternoon. The rest of the state should see the mix of wintry precipitation as we head into the evening and overnight hours. This may cause some travel issues as some freezing rain and sleet could be mixed with the rain and or snow that will be falling across the area. Highs today will be in the 30s with lows tonight in the middle to upper 20s north to the lower and middle 30s south. Warmer air will move into the state on Thursday which will change most of the precipitation to all rain by the late morning hours. We could see a mix continuing in our far northern and northeastern counties but it should be more rain than snow. Highs on Thursday will get into the 30s to lower 40s. Thursday night into Friday, the precipitation looks to slowly change back over to some snow with some accumulations possible. This looks to last into Saturday as a low pressure center moves northeast from near Springfield MO to South Bend IN by evening. Much colder air will move in on Saturday which will lead to falling temperatures and brisk winds out of the north at 15-25mph with higher gusts. This will create some blowing snow conditions and could lead to some white outs in open areas. Wind chills will drop well below zero on Saturday, most likely into Wind Chill Advisory criteria (-20° or below). This is a system we’ll continue to monitor for the next few days as it draws closer.

THE ARCTIC PLUNGE: The coldest air we’ve seen in a while will be around at the end of the weekend and into the early part of next week. We will easily see sub-zero readings in the northern counties both Sunday and Monday morning with highs both days struggling to get out of the single digits above zero. The GFS is suggesting that some places in northern Iowa may barely even get above zero. Skies will turn mostly sunny both days, but that will do little to warm the temperatures up. The sun disappears once more on Tuesday as an Alberta Clipper (those Canadians really need to get their act together with these systems!) drops down with a chance of some light snow at that time. It will also reinforce the arctic air as we head into the middle of next week.

WHAT THE MODEL SAYS: (This is the portion of the report that indicates what the model is showing at this time. It is NOT A FORECAST) As we look at the extended period which takes us through the 21st, the GFS shows another system dropping in next Thursday and Friday with a chance of snow once again. The cold Arctic air looks to have modified a bit with readings still below seasonal levels but not as cold as earlier in the week. Another shot of cold air follows in the wake of that system with the GFS showing temperatures around zero on Sunday morning (17th). Temperatures modify once again as we near the end of the period with some activity possible but nothing major at this time.