It’s one of the busiest travel days of the year and roads across most of Iowa’s western two-thirds are partly to completely snow covered — and the snow’s still coming down in many areas. Meteorologist Miles Schumacher, at the National Weather Service, says it’s getting deep across much of Iowa’s northern half.
“It’s looking like most places north of Highway 30 are generally in the three-to-five inch range,” Schumacher says, “no wind with it fortunately.” Some areas may see six inches of snow by this afternoon, though he says parts of southern Iowa are seeing very little accumulation. Snowfall is already starting to taper off for the state’s western half.
“It’s pretty much over from central Iowa on west,” Schumacher says. “We may get a little light snow during the afternoon but most of the accumulating snow is over with. Over the northeast half of the state, we’ll continue to get snow this morning, it’ll probably end around midday, except for the eastern third of Iowa. It will probably last until tonight before that ends.”
Roads are iffy in some areas. He recommends motorists keep the speed down and try to allow for more time, whether they’re heading across town or across the state. “Temperatures aren’t really all that cold,” Schumacher says. “It will probably be a little tough across the north. During the day, generally, we tend to get some improvement. Over the southwest half of the state, temperatures will be right up around freezing so I would imagine road crews will get roads in pretty fair shape over the southwest half.”
Find the latest forecast at weather.gov and see travel advisories at 511ia.org.