Christmas is now a week away and with temperatures in the 40s and even near 50 across much of the state in recent days, there’s little-to-no chance of Iowans having a white Christmas, though state climatologist Justin Glisan says we’ve had a significant amount of snow since Thanksgiving.
“So if you combine both November and December, we’re at about 15.6 inches, and that’s almost seven inches above what we had all of last winter,” Glisan says, “which was the 4th least snowiest winter on record.”
Some communities, like Fort Dodge, have seen more than 30 inches of snowfall in the past several weeks, but even in Fort Dodge, those mountainous white piles are quickly vanishing.
“The potential was there for a white Christmas with this snowpack on the ground,” Glisan says, “but with temperatures above freezing for the next week or two, we’re going to melt a lot of that snow.”
Glisan says Iowa has been gradually warming for the past few decades.
“If you look at the 30-year average for the potential of white Christmas, which we define as at least one inch of snowfall on the ground, it’s decreased by anywhere from 5 to 8% over the last 30 years, depending on where you are in the state from north to south,” Glisan says, “so the odds of a white Christmas are less than they were 30 years ago.”
We’re in the midst of a weak La Nina weather pattern, he says, which typically means an above-average amount of snowfall, especially during January and February.
(By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)