Those patches of brown grass that had started to show up recently are nestled once again under a blanket of white in parts of Iowa.Meteorologist Brad Small of the National Weather Service says the snow hit central and southern Iowa the hardest. Small works at the N-W-S Johnston office, and says this snow is heavier than what we’ve seen most of the winter as it was close to being rain. Small says the good news is that cold temperatures won’t follow this snow like they did in January and February.Small says we’re on a slow and steady march toward spring that will bring us temperatures in the 40s..The snow’s resulted in another round of school closings and some treacherous travel conditions in central and southern Iowa.Southern Iowa’s Decatur County got the most snow in the state from this latest storm — up to 14 inches. In the county seat, Leon Mayor Miles Horn says it’s not the worst dumping he’s ever seen, but it ranks up there.Mayor Horn is a schoolteacher but classes were cancelled throughout the area today so he’s in his office, trying to take care of business. One of his biggest headaches is how to pay all of the snow removal crews overtime.Horn says the budget is “shot,” which is a familiar cry among many Iowa city leaders this winter. This snowstorm is, in his words, “pretty bad,” but isn’t the worst.Spring is only four days away, but that’s little solace for Horn, who readily recalls the blizzard of April 9th, 1973, which brought parts of Iowa more than 16 inches of snow.
