WEATHERGEDDON, 2020 KEEPS ON GIVING...
Well, I sure picked a fine time to leave Iowa. First I miss the incredible August derecho. If you haven't heard, the big news over the weekend is that damage estimates from the storm have have soared to 7.5 billion dollars! That makes it the costliest thunderstorm in United States history, worse than any tornado and most hurricanes. My book on the event, Derecho 911, Iowa's Inland Hurricane is currently in the lay out phase and should hit the publishing stage in a couple weeks. The goal is to have it available to you by Christmas. I will begin pre-sales on this site late this week. If you are interested I can save you a few bucks if you buy in the pre-sales stage. The cover looks like this and I promise you it is a very in depth examination of this historic event from many different angles with lots of images and explainers including a deep meteorological dive. Details to come.
Getting back to picking a fine time to leave Iowa. If it wasn't bad enough that I miss the storm of a lifetime, yesterday I missed what turned out to be a significant band of early snow in parts of my area. It is the earliest 2" snow on record in Cedar Rapids and in some areas could end up being the all-time heaviest for so early in the season. Along with that the high in Cedar Rapids reached only 35 which unofficially appears to be the coldest high ever measured there on October 19th. This map from the Iowa Mesonet shows the narrow but impressive band that fell through the heart of Iowa. Little if any in the north or south.
Here's a few pictures which is all I have in Maine to appreciate this unique early season visit from the white gold.
The image below is I 35 north of Des Moines. Near Ankeny 7 inches piled up and Polk City was the big state winner with a 9 inch total.
This next shot is from downtown Cedar Rapids.
Snowmen pooped up in many places including Ames.
In parts of central Iowa a snow squall warning was issued. This is a new thing and it is for short but impactful bursts of snow that can quickly reduce visibility and produce poor travel. Today's was the first ever issued by the NWS in Des Moines.
At least for my area we are done with the snow and will eventually see a brief but big warm-up later in the week.
Before we get to that, the next disturbance is already approaching the Midwest and it will bring another healthy shot of snow Tuesday. However, this time the track is further north and Minnesota and Wisconsin will be the recipients where winter weather advisories are in effect. Here are the snow forecasts from the EURO and GFS which are in excellent agreement.
The EURO
In my area any precipitation from this system will be light and mainly confined to areas north of HWY 30. Temperatures will remain quite cool in the 40s.
Wednesday night through Thursday night another disturbance arrives and this is the one that sends temperatures soaring. The EURO has highs well up in the 70s with dew points in the low 60s. That will feel like spring!
With the warmer air and higher moisture levels, it appears this set-up has the right dynamics to be a decent rain producer. The EURO has this for totals through Friday.
The GFS looks like this for the same period.
Once this system departs cold air rushes in Friday night and settles in for the coming weekend. Conditions look dry Saturday but rain or snow is back in the picture on Sunday. It's way too early to say how that pans out but it's certainly worth watching in coming days. Meantime we wait for the late week thaw on Thursday that looks mighty inviting! Roll weather...TS
