(Radio Iowa) – Forecasters says it’ll likely be too cold to throw the football around outside with your nephews on Thanksgiving Day, but on the plus side, there’s no rain or snow predicted to muck up the roads. Meteorologist Roger Vachalek, with the National Weather Service, says it’ll be a rollercoaster week as Iowans will experience above- and below-average temperatures. “The good news is we’ve got a banner week for travel here throughout at least the Midwest,” Vachalek says, “with little if any precipitation expected.” Much of Iowa is under cloud cover this (Monday) morning but those should burn off by mid-day, bringing in warmer weather.

“We should have highs in the lower 40s in central Iowa, some 30s in the northeast and upper 40s in the southwest,” Vachalek says. “You’ll notice the winds picking up though for tomorrow and Wednesday. Highs are going to bump right up to the mid 50s in central Iowa, mid 40s in northeast Iowa, and even around Omaha, they should be in the lower 60s in the southwestern portion of the state.” If your vehicle sits outside, you’ll likely have to scrape frost off the windows on Thanksgiving morning before hitting the road to visit family.

“We’ll have highs in the lower 30s in central Iowa on Thanksgiving Day, upper 20s in the north and mid 30s in the south,” Vachalek says. “Fortunately, that will be short-lived as we head into Friday and the weekend. We’ll start to see a warm-up again with highs pushing back in the 40s.” Another advantage to having freezing weather on Thanksgiving is — if your garage is enclosed but not heated, that could be a great place to store all of those leftovers that won’t fit in the fridge.