After being missed by several recent snowstorms, eastern Iowa is seeing plenty of flakes flying today with up to five inches expected.
Forecasters say the snowfall could be heavy at times and driving may become iffy across wide sections of the region. Meteorologist Peter Speck, at the National Weather Service in Davenport, says ten counties are expecting the most snow through the afternoon and into the evening.
“Generally from about Keosauqua, follow a line all the way up northeast to just south of the Dubuque metro, so areas along and east of that line are under a Winter Weather Advisory here,” Speck says. “Some go through about three o’clock and then some go through about six o’clock, depending on when we’re expecting the snow to get out of here.”
Temperatures will fall throughout the day from the low 30s into the low 20s. Traffic is already slow going on parts of Interstate 80 and in the Quad Cities and Muscatine areas, he says, as roads are becoming snow-covered. “Some snowfall totals of around two to five inches can be expected through about three o’clock today,” Speck says. “We’re already getting some reports down in west-central Illinois down towards the Macomb area of about three to four inches.”
Another round of snow is expected tonight, he says, that may reach further west toward Iowa City and Cedar Rapids. While northern, western and central Iowa have all had plenty of snowfall in recent weeks, Speck says most of those winter storm systems have missed the Davenport area.
“Now we’re kind of under the gun here for several systems,” Speck says. “We’ve got this one coming through here, we’ve got another light one coming Friday, and then potentially a more impactful system on Saturday. It’s a little bit early to get into snow amounts, but it looks like winter’s decided to finally pay us a visit here in eastern Iowa.”
Keep up with the forecast at weather.gov and survey road conditions across Iowa at 511ia.org.