(Radio Iowa) – Parts of Iowa got two sizeable snowstorms last week and now forecasters are saying it could be very snowy in the month ahead. Meteorologist Dennis Todey, director of the U-S-D-A’s Midwest Climate Hub in Ames, says the outlooks show a more active trend developing through mid-January. “Looking ahead at the 6-10 day and the 8-14 day, the pattern suddenly is shifting a bit,” Todey says, “and we’re going to get some more opportunities for precipitation coming through.”

He says the storm track far to the west is filling up and it’ll very likely influence Iowa’s weather in the weeks to come. “There are a few storm systems lined up across the Pacific that will bring some precipitation to California, which will be a good thing for them and the Southwest,” Todey says, “but then it looks like it’s going to increase our chances across the central part of the U.S., too.”

Those weather systems could bring mixed forms of precipitation, not just snow. “Temperatures overall are a little bit more likely to be warmer than average, so we’ll have to see what this follows as,” Todey says. “You’d think, this time of year, it’s going to follow as snow, which is still more likely but it’s possible we might see some more liquid versions of this as these systems come through.”

Todey says the main concern for the region is continued drought and with the ground freezing, any moisture that falls in the next few months won’t be soaking in.