April 25, 2024

Snow event, arctic blast to hit region Friday

By SARAH SCULL

A City of Creston dump truck hauls snow off of Adams Street Saturday during the snow storm. Snow is plowed and piled onto Adams Street and then loaded into trucks to be hauled away. (CNA photo)

A widespread snow event with blustery winds, sub-zero temperatures and severe visibility restrictions is forecasted for Iowa this weekend.

Dr. Justin Glisan, state climatologist at the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, said there is some uncertainty as to actual snowfall totals, but the entire state will receive snow.

In Union County and surrounding counties, Glisan said the system will move into the region early Friday and end late Friday night. Residents can expect the event to begin with freezing rain, which will transition to several inches of snow.

“Another feature will be blowing snow on Saturday with this arctic system coming through,” said Glisan.

Glisan said, as far as the temperature, the arctic blast arriving Friday will feature daytime highs in the single digits into Saturday and windchill values below zero – possibly 20 to 30 degrees below.

“That’s possible depending on how fast the winds are,” said Glisan. “With an arctic air mass like this, it’s possible.”

Glisan said December was 5 degrees above average state-wide, which is not associated with El Nino. With January starting out above average, Glisan said a pattern shift toward drier conditions is expected later this month.

However, for the remainder of the winter season, which ends in March, Glisan said the forecast has what climatologist call “EC” or an equal chance.

“That is effectively a coin flip,” said Glisan. “We can be below average, above average or we could be what we climatologically expect.”