Dec. 3 Snow Accumulations

Snow amounts today weren't as heavy as anticipated, with the line of snow moving through quicker and being narrower than forecasts. Accumulations still caused plenty of travel hazards, as over a dozen accidents just around the Des Moines metro area occurred this morning, including a 9 vehicle accident just north of Des Moines. Storm total accumulations:

Ottumwa - 3.5"
Oskalooska - 3.0"
Rathbun - 2.0"
Knoxville - 2.0"
Des Moines - 1.6"
Lamoni - 1.0"
Ringsted - 1.0"
Waterloo - 0.8"
Mason City - 0.7"
Iowa Falls - 0.5"
Algona - 0.5"


Skies are beginning to clear, with just a few flurries being possible across northwest Iowa tonight with a weak disturbance. Temperatures tonight will be chilly, with northwest winds beginning to die down a bit they will be able to drop just a little further into the single digits over northeast Iowa and into the teens across the rest of the state. High temperatures on Thursday will be in the 20s throughout, with a few flurries still possible over mainly northwest Iowa. Thursday night lows will be even colder, with single digits over all but southwest Iowa! Friday's highs will warm up just ahead of our next storm system, ranging from the lower 20s to mid 30s from northeast to southwest. Friday night will see lows in the 20s for the most part, with mostly cloudy skies keeping them up compared to previous nights. Friday night snowfall should yield only a dusting to at most an inch, as moisture is fairly scarce at this point.

Into the weekend expect to see temperatures hovering in the 20s to near freezing, with lows in the single digits and teens on Saturday and then into the teens and 20s on Sunday night. This will lead into our next storm system entering the state on Sunday night and lasting into Monday. Snowfall is likely, although some mentions of sleet have also been thrown out in forecast discussions today. More details on this system in later updates...

For now, I'll leave this update tonight with a nice picture from earlier this summer of a Goldfinch that was taking a rest on a Lilac bush. A friendly reminder that the warmth is only 5 months away!!