UPDATED at 3:50PM

Tonight: Mostly cloudy with some drizzle during the evening. Low: 32-34. Wind: NW 5-15 mph.

Wednesday: Mostly sunny. High: 45-47. Wind: NW 5-10 mph.

Wednesday Night: Mostly clear. Low: 25-28. Wind: S 5-10 mph.

Thursday: Mostly sunny. High: low 50s.

Friday: Mostly cloudy with a 20% chance of rain. High: mid 50s.

Saturday: Mostly cloudy, warm and windy (S 15-30 mph) with a 30% chance of rain/storms. High: mid 60s.

Sunday: Mostly cloudy with a 30% chance of rain. High: mid 40s.

Monday: Partly cloudy. High: mid 30s.

Tuesday: Partly cloudy. High: upper 30s.

The beginning of election day (today) we had rain and snow. Here are some rain reports from across eastern and central Iowa.

Below are some photos of the snow from this morning. This would be the first snowfall of the season for these locations.

Monona
Courtesy: Amy Seitz

North of Dubuque
Courtesy: Russell Helle

Waukon
Courtesy: Cindy Shogren

near Prairie du Chien, WI
Courtesy: Carrie Nolan

Balltown
Courtesy: Jean Sigwarth

south of Elkader
Courtesy: Ryan Klink

The sky will remain mostly cloudy through tonight with some spotty drizzle this evening. The sky will clear quickly Wednesday morning and will be mostly sunny most of the day as well as Thursday as high pressure moves across the middle of the country.

Clouds move back into the area Friday with a slight chance of rain shower. Saturday will be a warm and windy day as low pressure strengthens over Nebraska. The wind will be strong from the south at 15-30 mph Saturday. Here is the HPC forecast map for Saturday morning.

The low will track northeast and swing a cold front through Iowa Saturday night. Along and ahead of the cold front there is a chance of rain/storms Saturday afternoon and Saturday night.

Once the cold front pushes east of Iowa (Saturday night) the high temperatures on Sunday will not warm much at all. Temperatures will remain steady through the day and just might drop a little in the afternoon with a gusty northwest wind.

If you look back at yesterday’s forecast post you will see the GFS was showing precipitation in eastern Iowa and cold air combining for the chance of snow. Today the models have shifted the precipitation east and the temperatures will be slightly warmer. The end result would keep Monday and Tuesday dry as high pressure to our west pushes into the middle of the country. The maps below are for Monday morning. From left to right GFS…ECMWF…HPC.

Posted under Forecast Discussion, Photo, Precipitation Totals

Rain totals from 6 AM Monday to 6 AM Tuesday

Location	County	Rain
Waterloo	Black Hawk	0.03
Dubuque	Dubuque	0.00
Cedar Rapids	Linn	T
Iowa City	Johnson	0.00
Ainsworth 7.4 N	Washington	0.01
Anamosa 3SSW, IA	Jones	0.02
BELLE PLAINE, IA	Benton	0.08
CASCADE, IA	Dubuque	0.03
Central City 6.7 W	Linn	0.06
CHARLES CITY, IA	Floyd	0.12
COLWELL, IA	Floyd	0.13
Decorah 7.9 ENE	Winneshiek	0.01
DORCHESTER, IA	Allamakee	T
ELKADER 6SSW, IA	Clayton	0.04
FAYETTE, IA	Fayette	0.13
GRUNDY CENTER, IA	Grundy	0.09
HAMPTON, IA	Franklin	0.11
IONIA 2W, IA	Chickasaw	0.10
IOWA FALLS, IA	Hardin	0.08
LADORA, IA	Iowa	0.04
LANSING 4SE, IA	Allamakee	0.04
Marengo 2.6 SSW	Iowa	0.03
Marion 1.2 NE	Linn	0.03
Monticello, IA	Jones	0.02
NASHUA 2SW, IA	Floyd	0.14
New Hampton 0.4 SW	Chickasaw	0.08
NEW HAMPTON, IA	Chickasaw	0.08
OSAGE , IA	Mitchell	0.13
POSTVILLE, IA	Allamakee	T
Solon 0.3 ESE	Johnson	0.03
ST ANSGAR, IA	Mitchell	0.10
SWISHER, IA	Johnson	0.03
TOLEDO 3 N, IA	Tama	0.12
TRIPOLI, IA	Bremer	0.11
VOLGA 1NE, IA	Clayton	0.06
WASHINGTON, IA	Washington	0.02
Waterloo 1.8 SSE	Black Hawk	0.02
Waterloo 3.0 NNW	Black Hawk	0.02
Waucoma 3.2 S	Fayette	0.09
WAUKON, IA	Allamakee	T
WILLIAMSBURG 3 SE, IA	Iowa	0.06

Posted under Precipitation Totals

From NWS
1990: Snow moved into western Iowa in the morning and spread across central and east central Iowa during the day. Snowfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches were common in a 60 mile wide band extending from Sioux City to Cedar Rapids with the highest reported accumulation of 8.5 inches falling at Little Sioux. The resulting slick roads contributed to dozens of traffic accidents with one fatality in Boone County attributed to the poor driving conditions. With several inches of fresh snow on the ground temperatures plummeted on the morning of the 7th breaking daily record lows in parts of western Iowa including a reading of -1 F at Hawarden.

This Day in National/World Weather History …

6 November 1977 → At 1:30 am the Kelly Barnes Dam near Toccoa, GA failed after a period of heavy rain; seven inches since November 2. In particular, 3.5 inches fell between 6 pm and midnight November 5. The resulting flash flood caused 39 fatalities,destroyed several houses, and damaged buildings on the campus of Toccoa Falls College. 6 November 1988 → A powerful storm in the northern Great Lakes dropped 2 feet of snow along the shore of Lake Superior and 3 feet in the Porcupine Mountains of Upper Michigan. Marquette established a November record with 17.3 inches in 24 hours. 6 November 2001 → Remnants of Hurricane Noel intensified over the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The massive storm blew out car windows, caused blackouts, and swamped wharves. Confederation Bridge closed for the first time ever when winds gusted up to 96 mph.

Posted under Weather History