Welcome Back Cold & Wind...

It has been a couple of days since we've seen the cold and windy conditions across the state, with temperatures yesterday near 30 to near 60 across the state and winds nearly calm it was a brisk change back this morning. Winds across the state are from the northwest at 25-35 mph and some higher gusts, creating blowing snow over areas that still have the large snow-pack left. For those that are along and north of Highway 30 in north-central Iowa you are under a Winter Weather Advisory until 2 PM this afternoon due to the blowing snow creating some drifting and slick conditions on roadways. The northern half of the state will also go under a Wind Chill Advisory beginning tonight at 9 PM and continuing until 9 AM tomorrow morning. This is due to the cold temperatures and gusty winds creating wind chills that are likely to range from -20 to -30 overnight.

High temperatures today are what they are now for the most part, upper teens to mid 20s across most of the state from northwest to southeast. As mentioned the winds will create some localized hazardous conditions, and create wind chills that are well below zero by this evening. Overnight tonight the cold air has a chance to settle in with lows from near -10 in the north to around 5 in the south, the gusty winds will likely continue throughout the overnight.

Winds will die down tomorrow morning, with partly cloudy skies and winds around 10 mph the temperatures will still remain cold. Highs expected to range from the single digits to only the lower teens from northeast to southwest across the state. Saturday night lows will range from near -10 in the northeast, to near 10 above in the southwest. Snow will likely begin to creep into western Iowa during the overnight hours on Saturday. This snow will continue to overspread the southwest half of the state on Sunday, with cloudy skies and fairly light winds the high temperatures will remain in the single digits to upper teens from northeast to southwest across the state. Lows overnight on Sunday will be from the single digits below zero across the north to the upper single digits above in the south. Snow is still possible over the southwest half of the state, likely ending by Monday morning, total accumulations over the weekend should remain around an inch or two.

Next week looks to remain around average as far as temperatures go, slowly warming each day through Wednesday. The best precipitation chances may come mid-week, but current forecast models are pushing a majority of the storms to our south.