A major winter storm is knocking on Iowa’s door. Twenty counties in central and western Iowa are under a Winter Storm Warning late tonight through tomorrow night. The watch area includes the cities of Council Bluffs, Denison, Atlantic, Creston, Ames and Des Moines.

National Weather Service meteorologist Frank Boksa says the storm will start with rain and change over to snow after midnight.

“We’re not looking for any big snowfall totals during the overnight hours – perhaps half-an-inch in the Des Moines metro.

Certainly, areas out west will change over first and they will see a little bit more snow by daybreak. We’re looking at two or three inches in western Iowa,” Boksa said. But, the heaviest snow is expected through the morning and early afternoon. Boksa said it’s difficult to forecast final snowfall totals because the snow will be so wet and heavy.

“Wet, heavy snow compacts more…this is a very difficult storm to try and pinpoint where the heaviest snow is going to be,” Boksa said. Some blowing and drifting of snow is possible tomorrow as northeast winds are expected between 15 and 30 miles an hour.

High temperatures across the state through the weekend will mostly be in the 30s.

The recent stretch of warm weather has made much of Iowa’s snow disappear. The white stuff is still plentiful in a few places though, like at the regional ski resorts. Dubuque’s Sundown Mountain reports more than four feet of man-made snow and 22 trails open for skiing and snowboarding.

Sundown spokesman Mark Dietz says mild conditions are better for beginners. “It’s a lot nicer to learn instead of when it’s zero and the wind’s blowing,” Dietz says. “The warm weather has its plus side, that being, it is more comfortable than what we could normally have here, which is much, much colder than this.”

Just across the Mississippi River in Galena, Illinois, Stuart Stoffregen is the marketing director at Chestnut Mountain. Stoffregen says it would take temperatures in the 50s and 60s for a couple of weeks before they would have to shut down.

“Being in the Midwest, you have to rely on technology and our snow-making is very top notch,” Stoffregen. “When it was colder a couple of weeks ago, we made piles and piles of snow. We have well over 50-some inches on the hill. Right now, the snow is a little bit softer but it’s still great for skiing and snowboarding.”

Iowa normally sees 60-degree days in January once in a decade. Last month, many cities hit 60 on four separate days, with some reaching 70. Still, forecasters say the cold weather is returning with the chance of snow on Friday night and Saturday.

State climatologist, Harry Hillaker, says the average snowfall continued to be below normal in the first month of the new year. Hillaker says January was, “Not as far below normal as November and December had been though, with statewide average of about 6.6 inches of snow, normally we would have about eight inches or so for the month, so it’s a little bit below normal.”

He says there’s always a big contrast in snowfall across the state. “Some parts of northeast Iowa were quite a bit above normal, Guttenberg for example had 17.5 inches of snow for the month, which would be about double the usual amount there. On the other side of the spectrum…Logan in western Iowa had only six-tenths of an inch of snow for the month,” Hillaker says.

One thing that is much different from recent years is the amount of time the snow has hung around. Hillaker says rain and warm conditions melted the snow we got so the ground didn’t remain white very long after the snowfall, like it has in recent years.

“Especially the winter two years ago, 2009 and 2010, where some places such as Des Moines just obliterated the old record as far as duration of snow cover. So it’s a huge contrast from what we’ve seen in recent winters,” Hillaker says. “But again, not historically at the top as far as a lack of snow, but certainly less than usual.”

Part of the melting of the snowcover was due to warmer temperatures. Hillaker says the temperatures averaged about six degrees above normal for the month. “Actually not high enough to get in the top ten as far as warmest Januarys, but we certainly did have some very mild days mixed in there,” Hillaker says.

“Temperatures were into the 60′s on several different dates during the month in parts of the state, which is certainly not an everyday occurrence by any means in Iowa.” Hillaker says the overall precipitation for January was 63-hundredths of an inch, which is about two-thirds the normal average for the month.

Iowans are waking up to mild temperatures this morning after a day of record warmth on Monday. Brad Small, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Johnston, says several all-time records were shattered.

Des Moines had 65 degrees, beating the old record of 57. Ottumwa reached 65, breaking the old record of 59. Lamoni saw 63 degrees, knocking off the old record by three degrees. Webster City reached a high of 59, breaking the old record of 53 set in 1931.

Small says today’s temperatures will be above normal for this final day of January, but likely won’t see any new records set. There’s the possibility of snow by Friday.

By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City