Much of Iowa’s northern half may see flurries fly this afternoon and tonight, though forecasters say the most accumulation will be in the northeast. Meteorologist Jim Lee, at the National Weather Service, says 14 counties are under a Winter Weather Advisory from 3 PM until 3 AM tomorrow.
“Quite a bit of the state may see some flakes, but in terms of accumulating snow, it really looks like it will be focused across the northern half or so of the state,” Lee says. “Much of that area could probably see one to two inches, and there will be a strip of perhaps around three or four, which is where the advisory has been issued.”
The advisory includes cities like Algona, Mason City, Waterloo and Dubuque. Lee says blowing snow could become a problem for motorists tomorrow.
“We’re once again expecting some strong and gusty northwest winds, particularly from the afternoon into the evening on Wednesday,” Lee says, “so any snow showers that do occur and wherever we get snow here tonight on the ground, we’re going to have blowing snow issues on Wednesday.”
Later in the week, more snow likely won’t be an issue, but the bitter cold will be.
“Really late Thursday all the way through Saturday, it looks quite frigid out there,” he says. “We’re looking for morning lows both Friday morning and Saturday morning, well below zero across the entire state. It would not surprise me if it was 10 to 15 below both mornings with a Friday afternoon high probably not even getting up to zero.”
The long-range forecast shows little change into early next week.
(By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)