Despite the gloomy Grinch-like prediction a few weeks ago for -no- white Christmas in Iowa, forecasters now say the odds are much more likely. Roger Vachalek, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service, says two weather systems are headed for Iowa.
The first is due tomorrow night (Tuesday) and Wednesday which may bring light snow to northwest and northern Iowa, but mostly rain for the rest of the state. Vachalek says the second storm system will arrive late in the week which could bring one to two inches of snow, with the best chance of snowfall in the far north. He says it’s a little odd for Iowa to be missing out on the white stuff, even though the calendar says winter doesn’t officially arrive until Thursday.
He says the best snow storm in the Midwest in recent weeks was the one that blasted parts of Missouri, Illinois and Wisconsin but so far, Iowa’s had very little snow. Vachalek says the farther north you live in Iowa, the higher the chances you’ll be seeing flakes fall in the next week.
Vachalek says Des Moines has a 27-percent probability of seeing at least two-inches of snow on the ground on Christmas Day, though the deepest it’s ever been in Iowa’s capital city on December 25th was 17-inches in 1961. Generally, he says you have to be north of Highway 20 to have at least a 50-50 or better shot at seeing snow on Christmas.