December 25th is a week from tomorrow and for many Iowans, it just wouldn’t be Christmas without a blanket of white covering everything outside. Meteorologist Rod Donavon, at the National Weather Service, says if you’re dreaming of a white Christmas, you may be in luck, but there will be a lot of ups and downs over the coming week.
Donavon says, “In general, we’re going to be warming back up after this little cool-down that we’re going to have for the next several days until at least Saturday.” The first day of winter is December 22nd, that’s next Tuesday, and seasonally-appropriate weather may be arriving almost immediately.
“Really, the thing we’re watching for next week is a big storm system that will be coming out of the southwest and likely will impact at least portions of the Central Plains either on the 23rd or 24th,” he says.
Many tens of thousands of Iowans have travel plans for next week’s holidays and rain versus ice versus snow will make a big difference for them. “Exact timing and how much cold air we get wrapped into this, we’ll see if we can produce some snow across Iowa but right now, it’s really uncertain.”
While much of Iowa will see high temperatures only in the 20s and 30s today, some areas may see highs near 50 by Sunday, with the shift back to very cold weather and potential snow arriving by the middle of next week.
(Reporting by Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)