Weather Headlines
- NEXT 9 HOURS: Wind Chills: -20 to -40 this morning
- SHORT TERM: Staying COLD, southern snow chances
- LONG TERM: Barely warmer next week
Latest Forecast
Dangerously cold throughout the weekend
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – It’s a First Alert Day today and Saturday as the threat of wind chills of at least -30 to -45 around eastern Iowa is realized, this morning in particular. We’ll keep things near or below -20 through at least Saturday morning, so don’t expect major relief in the short term.
Friday and Saturday morning are First Alert Days for brutally cold temperatures.(KCRG)
An Extreme Cold Warning in place for the entire TV9 viewing area through noon on Friday. After that, a Cold Weather Advisory will be in place through at least noon on Saturday.
Current cold-related alerts from the National Weather Service.
(KCRG)
By daybreak, wind chills will instead range from -25 to -30 in the south, to -40 to -45 in the north. There won’t be a ton of improvement during the day on Friday as winds stay strong enough, and air temperatures cold enough, to keep wind chills well below zero.
Forecast wind chill values for the 24-hour period from Thursday evening into Friday evening.(KCRG)
The weather will otherwise be fairly quiet today; winds will remain blustery through tonight. Skies will be partly cloudy at times.
A major storm system is set to affect many areas east of the Rocky Mountains this weekend. This will influence our weather, too, though the impacts around here will be less severe than those to our south and east. Instead, just a glancing blow of some lighter snow is possible on Saturday into Saturday night.
Saturday Snowfall(KCRG)
At this time, it appears that areas along and south of U.S. Highway 30 could see at least snowflakes, with the best chance for accumulation south of Interstate 80.
The potential for accumulating snow is much higher south and east of the TV9 viewing area, but some light accumulation is possible Saturday into Saturday night.(KCRG)
The factors working against more significant snow around here are the dryness of this cold air mass and a large area of high pressure that will be butted up against the broad area of precipitation to our south. This will limit the northward extent of the precipitation. There has been a hint of a northward trend in the last day or so, though, and that’s why our forecast does call for some snow to creep into eastern Iowa.
Air temperatures will be above zero during the day, but that’s about the best we can say about the weekend’s weather.(KCRG)
All of this gets out of the picture by Sunday, though we’ll still be plenty cold. It’s more likely, though, that daytime highs will get above zero all around eastern Iowa. Highs will be in the single digits to low 10s, though wind chills could be closer to zero in the afternoon.
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