Here are the totals for Cedar Rapids: 19.2″ and Iowa City: 9.9″

Posted under Precipitation Totals

Posted under Animals, Photo

Here are a bunch of photos in my email from the storm earlier this week.

Posted under Photo, Winter Weather

UPDATED at 4:20 PM

Tonight: Mostly cloudy. Low: 9-16. Wind: N 5-10 mph.

Saturday: Mostly sunny. High: 28-30, Wind: N 5-10 mph.

Saturday Night: Increasing clouds. Low: 11-14. Wind: S 5 mph.

Sunday: Mostly cloudy. High: low 30s.

Monday: Cloudy with a 50% chance of snow and windy (E 15-25 mph). High: upper 20s.

Tuesday: Mostly cloudy and breezy (N 10-20 mph) with a 30% chance of snow in the morning. High: upper 20s.

Wednesday: Mostly sunny. High: near 30.

Thursday: Partly cloudy and windy (SE 15-25 mph). High: mid 30s.

Friday: Mostly cloudy with a 20% chance of rain. High: upper 30s.

The low pressure that has produced the flurries today is in the Atlantic Ocean and not even on the map posted below. There are a lot of little troughs of low pressure circulating around that low squeezing out any little moisture the storm has left.

The flurries will only last through the evening hours. The clouds will linger through the night before clearing in the morning. High pressure will move across the Midwest providing sunshine. I am sorry to say that the sunshine is expected to be just one day. Clouds will increase Saturday night with a mostly cloudy day Sunday. The clouds are associated with the next low pressure system we are tracking.

The next low is forecast to track southeast and bring a band of snow with it across the Midwest. Here is the HPC forecast position of the low Monday morning.

Forecast snow amounts and locations are bit sketchy this far out, I can say some accumulation is likely, but exactly where and how much is not a sure thing yet. Here is the chance of seeing 2”+ snow from Sunday evening to Monday evening.

The snow chances do continue Monday night into Tuesday morning before tapering off as the low moves east. The wind will be gusty so any snow that does fall will be blowing around. There is still a lot of uncertainty with computer guidance and the track of the low/position of the snow band…so stay up to date on the latest forecast through the weekend.  

High pressure moves across the middle of the country Wednesday bringing back sunshine into the picture.

Thursday will be windy, but dry as we track the next chance of precipitation for Friday with a chance of rain. High temperatures will reach the upper 30s ahead of cold front.

Posted under Forecast Discussion

From NWS
1992: A backward March started with record-breaking warmth before transitioning to unseasonably cold weather by the second week of the month. The warmest readings of the entire month came on the 1st when the statewide average high temperature was 72 F which is a remarkable 34 degrees above normal. Reported high temperatures at individual stations included 78 F at Clarinda, 79 F at Shenandoah, 80 F at Williamsburg, and 81 F at Glenwood.

1962: The bitterly cold air that had settled across Iowa on the last day of February intensified on the first day of March with many locations across the state setting all-time low temperature records for the month. These included Des Moines with a low temperature of -22 F and Hampton where the morning low of -35 F established the all-time Iowa March record. At Waterloo the temperature bottomed out at -34 F, setting an all-time station record that has only been tied once since (on January 16, 2009). Other reported low temperatures included -34 F at Vinton, -33 F at Decorah and Fayette, -32 F at Atlantic, Chariton, Charles City, and Marshalltown, -24 F at Clarinda, and -19 F at Bloomfield.

1 March 1980 → An unusually large Florida tornado, an F3, was at times more than 500 yards wide. It struck near Fort Lauderdale and traveled 7 miles. The tornado killed one person and caused $6 million in damage. 1 March 1983 → An F2 tornado stayed on the ground for three and a half miles as it moved through south central Los Angeles, CA. Fifty buildings were damaged and 30 people were injured, mostly by flying glass. 1 March 2003 → Officials in charge of the Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race in Alaska were forced to change the route of their famous race because of unusually warm conditions and a lack of snow. 1 March 2007 → The first tornado of a large outbreak struck Enterprise, AL around 1pm. Eight students died when the EF-4 struck the town’s high school, and there was an additional fatality as the tornado tore through the city.

Posted under Weather History