Frost & Freeze Warnings

That's right, the second shot of cold air that I promised you is going to be making its' impact today & especially tonight over the state of Iowa and most of the northern plains & Great Lakes region. A cold front moved through yesterday evening and overnight, bringing in some cold air from the north that is being felt this morning already. Lows overnight last night dropped into the mid 40s and upper 30s for a majority of the state; portions of southeastern Iowa managed to stay in the upper 40s and lower 50s with the cold front passing early this morning. Today's highs aren't expected to increase too much, upper 50s for the northern third of the state & lower 60s for the remainder.

Tonight is the big story, with possible record setting lows over the state as temperatures drop to near or below freezing levels! Frost Advisories have been put up for a majority of the state, while some portion of eastern Iowa are under a Freeze Warning. Both of these are good indications of temperatures dropping down to at least 34 degrees if not colder. Current forecasts call for upper 20s & lower 30s for most of the northern & eastern thirds of the state. Other portions will still likely see mid 30s, expect for extreme southwest Iowa where they may be able to hold off the frost and survive in the upper 30s. A graphic put up by the Iowa Environmental Mesonet indicates that the chances of a sub-33 degree night by this time of the year are 8% or less! Several areas are actually below a 5% chance, indicating that the cold air in place occurs only once every 20 years!

For the remainder of the weekend, expect highs in the lower to mid 60s on Saturday; lows in the the mid 40s to some lower 50s in the south/southwest. Sunday warms dramatically as the cold air begins to be pushed out once again, highs in the lower 70s in the east to a few low 80s possible in the southwest. Sunday night lows also much warmer, dropping into the lower 50s in the east to lower 60s in the southwest.