Enjoy Today – Iowa Weather Network Archives

WARM TODAY, BITTER COLD LATER: Today will be the day to be outside to enjoy the sunshine and mild temperatures because they will not be back for a while. Highs in the 30s and 40s will be likely across the state with partly to mostly sunny skies. A storm system will skirt the state late tonight into early on Friday with a chance of some rain or snow in our eastern counties but most areas will remain precipitation free. The big story heading into the weekend will be the bitter cold that returns for Saturday through Tuesday with highs struggling to reach the single digits and teens and lows at or below zero at least two if not three nights in some areas. Wind chills will easily reach -20 or lower. The GFS has a few disturbances coming in late Saturday night into Sunday and again late Monday night into Tuesday in our western counties with a chance of some snow at that time. Not too concerned with that at this time and unsure if that precipitation will even occur.

NEXT WEEK: The bitter cold does modify as we head into the middle of next week but the GFS continues to show a system that will need to be watched from Wednesday through Friday of next week. This run shows the storm will skirt our southern counties with some snow with most of the moisture staying to the south of the state. Any deviation on the track could mean big changes to the forecast next week. Temperatures by the end of next week look to be closer to seasonal levels in the 20s to lower 30s for highs but of course this may change as well.

FURTHER OUT: No real consensus in the extended period with several disturbances possible as we get toward the end of the month. The GFS also is showing no real Arctic chills coming after the one this weekend into early next week, but you can never count any out at least through February or early March. So looking at this run, not real confident in anything past the next seven to eight days at this time.