Dec. 8-9 Ice/Snow Accumulations

Although blowing snow continues to create some problems, the snow is exiting the state and we will just be left with the wind and cold to deal with. Snow accumulations were not as high as expected for most of the state yesterday into today, this was mainly due to some slightly warmer air being present just above the surface. This warmer air allowed the snow that was falling to melt before reaching the surface, and then freeze upon contact creating the freezing rain. Freezing rain accumulations ranged from a tenth across much of the state to over three-tenths in parts of northeast Iowa. Each tenth of an inch of freezing rain could have easily contributed to more than an inch of snow, adding to the accumulations that those areas received later on during the early morning hours after the freezing rain had turned into snow.

The snow accumulations weren't light everywhere, with much of northeast Iowa receiving 5-9 inches of snowfall on top of the couple tenths of ice accrual. Areas that only saw a couple inches of snow still didn't make it without trouble due to strong winds blowing the snow around on top of their minor ice accumulations. Maps of the snow/ice accumulations are being added below when available:





Beyond today's cold and windy weather we can look for only partly cloudy skies the rest of the week with temperatures in the 20s to mid 30s from northeast to southwest across the state. Lows overnight will be in the single digits and teens tonight, to the teens and low 20s for the rest of the week. We look to only have a small chance at some flurries a few nights, otherwise looking towards early next week for our next round of winter precipitation.