The sound of snowblowers and shovels scraping concrete is filling the air in northern Iowa after an early spring snowstorm that started Thursday afternoon and ended this morning. Meteorologist Kevin Skow, at the National Weather Service, says some parts of the state got whalloped by white stuff. “It looks like the heaviest snow fell, as expected, across northwestern Iowa,” Skow says. “Some areas got five to six inches, the highest amount we’ve seen was eight inches,” with three to four inches in parts of central Iowa and tapering off to the east.
The deepest snow, eight inches, is reported in O’Brien County in the Sutherland area. What snow did fall won’t be sticking around long, he assures.
“We’ll be warming right back up here into the 40s and 50s,” Skow says. “The ground temperatures have been warmed up over the past couple of weeks as well. That’ll aid in melting the snow pretty quickly.”
While we’re more than two weeks into spring, Skow says it’s not too unusual to have a winter blast now. “Spring is always the transition time,” Skow says. “We’re certainly capable of seeing snowfall well into April. Remember last year, we saw our big snowfall at the beginning of May so, it’s certainly possible to see snow at the beginning of spring especially.” Another weather issue is on the radar — a Wind Advisory is in effect through this afternoon for much of central and southern Iowa. Forecasters say winds will be increasing from 20 to 30 miles per hour, gusting up to 45.