Iowans had better enjoy the warm weather today, as it won’t be around long. Much of the state will see high temperatures in the 60s and even lower 70s this afternoon, but National Weather Service meteorologist Rod Donavon says a cold front is on the way, along with the possibility of snow.
“This will definitely be our warmest day mainly over the next week,” Donavon says. “We do have a cold front coming down during the day on Thursday and another shot coming down on Saturday and with that one, we’re looking at much colder temperatures for the weekend with highs in the 30s and 40s and with that, some of the precipitation could be changing to snow.” The forecast calls for a 20-to-30-percent chance of snow on Saturday across much of Iowa, though it should be mostly flurries. Donavon says if any snowflakes fly this weekend, they won’t likely stick around.
“The good thing about this time of year is our ground temperatures are still pretty warm yet, up in the 50s to around 60 and we’re not expecting real heavy snow,” Donavon says. “Right now, there might be some places that have some traces or light accumulations but overall, there shouldn’t be too much on the ground.”
If, by some fluke, Iowa does see a measurable snowfall this weekend, Donavon says it would likely set a new record. He says the earliest recorded accumulation of snowfall across Iowa is around October 17th and 18th while the average date of the first snowfall is around November 10th.