354 AM CST FRI MAR 8 2013

TODAY…PARTLY SUNNY. HIGH IN THE UPPER 40S. SOUTHEAST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 25 MPH.

TONIGHT…A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS IN THE EVENING…THEN SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS OVERNIGHT. LOW IN THE UPPER 30S. SOUTHEAST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 30 MPH. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 90 PERCENT.

SATURDAY…SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS. HIGH IN THE UPPER 40S. SOUTH WIND 10 TO 15 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 30 MPH. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 90 PERCENT.

SATURDAY NIGHT…AREAS OF FOG THROUGH MIDNIGHT. RAIN THROUGH MIDNIGHT…THEN RAIN AND SNOW AFTER MIDNIGHT. BREEZY. LITTLE OR NO SNOW ACCUMULATION. LOW IN THE LOWER 30S. SOUTH WIND NEAR 10 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 20 MPH INCREASING TO NORTH 15 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 35 MPH AFTER MIDNIGHT. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 80 PERCENT.

SUNDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. A CHANCE OF LIGHT SNOW IN THE MORNING…THEN A SLIGHT CHANCE OF LIGHT RAIN AND SNOW IN THE AFTERNOON. BREEZY…COLDER. HIGH IN THE MID 30S. NORTHWEST WIND 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 35 MPH. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 40 PERCENT.

SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW 15 TO 20. HIGH IN THE UPPER 30S.

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(updated 4:18-a.m.)

Today: Patchy fog through mid-morning. Mostly Sunny, with a high near 38. Wind chill values as low as 5. Breezy, with a southeast wind 5 to 15 mph.
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 28. Southeast wind 5 to 15 mph.

Friday: Partly sunny, with a high near 49. Southeast wind 5 to 15 mph.
Friday Night: Rain likely, mainly after midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 39. South southeast wind 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

Saturday: Rain likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Cloudy, with a high near 49. South southeast wind 15 to 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.
Saturday Night: Rain likely. Cloudy, with a low around 35. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

Sunday: A 40 percent chance of rain and snow. Cloudy, with a high near 38. Breezy.
Sunday Night: A 20 percent chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 25. Blustery.

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Today: Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 34. Wind chill values as low as 10. North northwest wind 5 to 7 mph becoming east in the afternoon.
Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 18. Wind chill values as low as 10. East southeast wind 5 to 8 mph.

Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 41. Wind chill values as low as 5. Breezy, with a southeast wind 9 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph.
Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 31. Southeast wind 9 to 11 mph.

Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 49. South southeast wind 9 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.
Friday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 40. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Saturday: Rain likely. Cloudy, with a high near 48. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Saturday Night: Rain likely. Cloudy, with a low around 33. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Sunday: A chance of rain and snow. Cloudy, with a high near 39. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 50%.

More snow has fallen on Iowa in the region’s third large winter storm in three weeks, prompting farmers and others to wonder what impact the snowpack will have on the long-running drought. Climatologist Al Dutcher says there are signs the weather pattern is starting to return to normal, but he says just getting average snowfall or rainfall won’t put a dent in the drought deficits. “To double that precipitation is only going to knock off four or five inches of these accumulated deficits,” Dutcher says. “The hydrological drought is here for a while. It would take an average of at least an inch of moisture every single week through this entire growing season for us to substantially impact the drought.”

He says more of these late winter snowstorms could help the region regain some of its lost moisture. Dutcher, a climatologist with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, says the region needs more precipitation or spring planting will be a trial and the growing season ahead could be a disaster. “If the moisture doesn’t materialize these next two months, then it’s going to be exceptionally difficult if not virtually impossible for us to hold off the drought from getting much more intense as we get through this season compared to last season,” Dutcher says. “We won’t have any significant moisture in the profile. Most of it will to be right at the surface and it will not carry the crop.”

Ideally, he says the region needs to see a return to a normal rain pattern with temperatures low enough to keep vegetation from robbing a needed build-up of subsoil moisture. Parts of northeast Iowa are expecting up to ten inches of snow in this latest winter blast, another big help in overcoming the drought that began last year, the worst in more than a half century.

(Radio Iowa)

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Today: A chance of snow showers between 9am and 5pm. Cloudy, with a high near 32. Windy, with a northwest wind 18 to 28 mph, with gusts as high as 38 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 16. Wind chill values as low as 5. Blustery, with a north northwest wind 15 to 20 mph decreasing to 8 to 13 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 28 mph.

Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 34. Wind chill values as low as 5. North northwest wind 6 to 8 mph becoming east in the afternoon.
Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 18. Wind chill values as low as 5. Southeast wind 6 to 9 mph.

Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 41. Breezy, with a south southeast wind 10 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 29.

Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 45.

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The Winter Weather Advisory which was scheduled to have been in-place for Cass and some adjacent counties from Midnight Sunday until Noon today (Monday), has been cancelled.