Parts of Iowa saw periods of moderate to heavy snowfall last night and this morning, but National Weather Service meteorologist Cory Martin says there wasn’t much in the way of accumulation and most of the snow melted on the roads and sidewalks.
“Accumulations look like an inch or less,” Martin says, “and we see some collection on roadways, but it looks like the DOT is out after it already this morning.”
The bigger story from the arrival of this weather front may be the cold, as Martin says temperatures will fall throughout the day, turning bitter cold by tonight.
“We’ve got northwest winds picking up this morning, and that’s going to continue to push cold air into the state here that’s going to hang around here for about the next 48 to 60 hours,” Martin says. “We’re looking at a stretch of wind chills hovering anywhere from the single digits above or below zero, but up there in northern Iowa, we could be looking at wind chills in the teens below zero at times.”
Another storm system is expected late in the week which could bring us more snow to many areas of Iowa.
“Ironically, we’re looking at temperatures warming up as the system comes through, but probably still cool enough, at least for a little bit, to give us a shot at some more wintry precip,” Martin says. “Right now, it’s looking like freezing rain would probably be favored, but it doesn’t take much of that start causing some travel impact on the areas.”
Keep up with changing road conditions at the Iowa DOT’s interactive travel map at 511ia.org.
(Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City contributed to this story.)