A wintery mix of weather is returning to parts of Iowa today. National Weather Service Meteorologist Rod Donovan says the northwest third of the state can expect sleet, freezing rain, and snow through tomorrow.
“We could see some ice accumulation with that as well as a band of 3 to 7 inches of snow,” Donovan says. Just over a dozen counties across northwest and north central Iowa are under either a Winter Storm Warning or a Winter Weather Advisory. Some heavy rain is expected over much of the rest of the state. A Flash Flood Watch covers a large chunk or eastern and southern Iowa.
“We have had areas of one to three inches of rainfall that has occurred already across eastern and southern Iowa and we will have another batch of precipitation moving across that region with additional accumulations of up to one inch and possibly a bit more. So, that will have streams across that region running pretty full,” Donovan says.
Although we’re now several weeks into spring, Donovan says it’s not that unusual for Iowa to receive some snow in early April. “What is kind of unusual with this entire system is how much cold air has dug down to the south and west of Iowa. The Texas Panhandle is currently in the mid 20s and there’s freezing rain in Wichita,” Donovan says.
“So, Iowa is actually in the warmer air right now even though we’re only in the 30s and 40s.” The snow and rain should be exiting Iowa by tomorrow night.
Donovan says a “minor warm up” is expected this weekend with temperatures reaching the 50s and 60s by Sunday. Another chance of rain is forecast for Sunday into Monday.