(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.
Weather during the month of December, here in Atlantic, was once again warmer and drier than normal. Data compiled at the KJAN studios (The OFFICIAL National Weather Service reporting/record keeping site for Atlantic), show the Average High for the month was 39 (39.4), which was a full nearly 7-degrees above normal.
Our warmest day was Dec. 9th, when the thermometer reached 62. The Average Low was 15 (14.5), which is nearly one-degree above normal.Our coldest morning was Dec. 30th, at -4. Rain and melted snowfall for the month amounted to just .86 inches, which is nearly one-quarter of an inch below average. Snowfall amounted to just 9.6 inches.
During the month of January, in Atlantic, the Average High is 29.4-degrees, the Average Low is 9.3, and rain/melted snow typically amounts to .84-inches.
(Radio Iowa/KJAN) – The heavy snow came into the state as forecast and the amount made it hard for the plows to keep up and left a lot of people stuck in the streets that in many cases have yet been cleared. National Weather Service meteorologist, Kristy Carter, at the Johnston office says there was one total that will go in the books. “There was a record at the Des Moines Airport of nine-point six inches,” she says. Des Moines was the midpoint of the heavy snow band that started one side of the state and went border to border.
Carter says the snow went from the very southwest corner through central Iowa and then east. She says saw snows of nine inches to the south of Des Moines and five to six inches north and then nine to ten inches south and west of Des Moines. Here in Atlantic, at KJAN, we received just under six-inches of snow (5.7″). Other, area snowfall amounts include:
The snow really got heavy as it hit eastern Iowa. “In more of east-central Iowa heading toward the Davenport area, they were more in the ten and 11-inch range,” Carter says. There were reports of 12 inches in Hiawatha and Fairfax in eastern Iowa. Carter says the predictions prior to the storm were accurate. “I think the forecast turned out pretty well for the totals that we saw — some areas may have certainly gotten a little more — but I think the general forecast worked out really well,” according to Carter.
Another storm is expected to move through Friday and Carter says it could bring snow or rain.
(Radio Iowa) – Two-thirds of Iowa counties are considered to be abnormally dry or in some stage of drought, with far northwest Iowa the driest of all. State Climatologist Justin Glisan says that makes this month’s snowfall particularly welcome. “We had precipitation deficits starting to stack up in western Iowa, especially west central Iowa, going back last fall and then drying creeping into much of western Iowa moving into April, May and especially June, where we saw drought conditions expand across western Iowa,” Glisan says.
The lack of adequate subsoil moisture is a remarkable turn-around after recording flooding just a couple of years ago in several areas. “2018 was the second-wettest year on record. 2019 was the 12th wettest year on record,” Glisan says. “You put those two years together — the wettest two-year stretch for the state of Iowa going back 148 years.” Having snow drifts stick around for a while would be a good thing, according to Glisan, because it may help replenish moisture levels. “But of course drier soils freeze faster and they’ll freeze deeper,” Glisan says, “so we don’t want a really deep freeze in the subsoil because that will act like a concrete layer, no water infiltration getting into that deeper soil.”
The National Weather Service forecasts indicate more than half a foot of snow may fall in some areas of the state today (Tuesday).
(Radio Iowa) – Iowans are invited to an online webinar on winter weather tonight (Monday) being hosted by the National Weather Service office in Johnston. Meteorologist Alex Krull says they’re constantly recruiting weather spotters to help be the eyes and ears for forecasters. “We’ll talk about how we forecast different types of winter precipitation and how we officially report that then to the National Weather Service,” Krull says. “That includes how to properly take a snowfall measurement, if you have any ice on trees or power lines, how you can take a picture and officially report that to the National Weather Service and to be able to identify differences between things like snow, sleet and graupel.”
You don’t know what graupel is? Graupel is considered a soft hail or small snow pellets. Spotter training sessions were cancelled earlier this year due to the pandemic and Krull says these webinars are a good alternative for now. “There are plans to host more online virtual severe weather spotter training sessions come this springtime,” Krull says. “At this time, it doesn’t quite look like we’ll be able to have in-person meetings again, come springtime.”
The webinar is free and runs from 7 to 8 PM. Register to take part here: www.weather.gov/dmx
Clarinda Police Chief Keith Brothers says with a potential winter storm approaching our area Friday night through Saturday morning, the Clarinda Police Department would like to remind the citizens of Clarinda about the snow ordinance. 
The ordinance says “No person shall park any motor vehicle or other apparatus upon any street of the city that will obstruct the removal of snow when there has been an accumulation of two (2) inches or more. Any vehicle left parked on any street in violation of this ordinance may be impounded, and the registered owner of the vehicle will be subject to a $30 parking fine, and payment of all applicable towing and storage fees before the vehicle is released.”
Chief Brothers says the parking ban remains in effect until the snow ceases to fall and the streets have been plowed from curb to curb.
(Radio Iowa) – For Iowans who long to watch the fascinating swirls of green and purple waves of light in the sky, tonight (Wednesday) will likely be your best opportunity. 
A powerful solar flare is expected to push the famed Northern Lights further south into Iowa for a rare view. Meteorologist Andy Ervin, at the National Weather Service bureau in Davenport, says a storm front is forecast to arrive tomorrow (Thursday).
Locations from Washington state to Maine may be seeing the lights each of the next three nights, but clouds are expected over Iowa both Thursday and Friday nights. Ervin says if you can carve out a little time tonight to gaze skyward at the celestial spectacle, do.
A longtime Quad Cities resident, Ervin says he’s seen the Northern Lights before.
The Space Weather Prediction Center in Colorado says the geomagnetic storm will peak late tonight into early Thursday. The solar flare was recorded on Monday.
(Radio Iowa/KJAN) – State Climatologist Justin Glisan says preliminary data shows a statewide average of two inches of precipitation fell in Iowa last month. While that’s exactly what’s average for November, Glisan says precipitation amounts were far below average in northwest Iowa. “We saw precipitation departures of anywhere from one to two inches,” Glisan says. That means some areas of northwest Iowa, where there are drought conditions, recorded little, if any precipitation last month. On the flip side, south central and south east Iowa were much wetter.
“We kind of had the storm track locked on that part of the state,” he says. “That’s where we saw the largest positive departures, anywhere from 1.5 to 2 inches.” That means some pockets of southern Iowa had twice as much rain as average. Glisan says due to a lack of precipitation over the past three to six months, a few counties in northwest iowa are in extreme drought.
“You can kind of cut Iowa in half, typically right down I-35. Anywhere east of that we’re above average precipitation wise and anywhere west of that we’re below average and that’s where we see…abnormally dry conditions all the way to the extreme drought conditions up in that northwest corner.”
Weather during the month of November here in Atlantic, was warmer and drier than normal. Data compiled at the KJAN studios (The OFFICIAL National Weather Service reporting/record keeping site for Atlantic), show the Average High for the month was 56 (55.8), which was a full 10-degrees above normal. The Average Low was 27.3, which is nearly one-tenth of a degree above normal. Rain and melted snowfall for the month amounted to 1.76 inches, which is nearly one-tenth of an inch below average. Snowfall amounted to just one-half of an inch.
During the month of December, in Atlantic, the Average High is 32.9-degrees, the Average Low is 14.4, and rain/melted snow typically amounts to 1.11-inches. Check the Weather Page Jan. 1st, to see how our stats this month compare to the records.
Based on astronomy, winter starts on December 21st, but based on climatology and meteorology, December 1st is the first day of winter. Glison says that means the drought conditions are likely to persist. “Drier soils will freeze faster and they’ll freeze deeper,” Glisan says. “If we get into a cold period in which we dip below freezing for a good amount of time and the soils freeze, any precipitation in the form of rain or snowfall getting into a melt period will not infiltrate into that soil very deep, if at all.” The other factor is subsoil moisture is depleted, especially in western Iowa. Temperatures in Iowa averaged five degrees above normal for the month of November.
“Typically when we do see warmer temperatures along with these windy days that we’ve had, especially in November, that produces atmospheric demand for water vapor,” Glisan says. And that exacerbated evaporation of what moisture there had been in the soil. Glisan says the short term outlook is for warmer and drier than normal conditions in December for the western three quarters of the United States.
Weather during the month of November, here in Atlantic, was warmer and drier than normal. Data compiled at the KJAN studios (The OFFICIAL National Weather Service reporting/record keeping site for Atlantic), show the Average High for the month was 56 (55.8), which was a full 10-degrees above normal. The Average Low was 27.3, which is nearly one-tenth of a degree above normal. Rain and melted snowfall for the month amounted to 1.76 inches, which is nearly one-tenth of an inch below average. Snowfall amounted to just one-half of an inch.
During the month of December, in Atlantic, the Average High is 32.9-degrees, the Average Low is 14.4, and rain/melted snow typically amounts to 1.11-inches. Check the Weather Page Jan. 1st, to see how our stats this month compare to the records.
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