Northwest Iowa — A couple of dreary days, and then, unlike some years when we have full-on winter conditions for Thanksgiving, this year it looks like clear sailing for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Some models are predicting freezing drizzle and snow early. However, the National Weather Service says that’s not very likely around here — but not too far away, it’s more likely.
We talked to National Weather Service meteorologist Jen Hacker at the Sioux Falls Forecast office. She tells us what should be coming our way.
(as said:) “We’ve got a storm system that’s going to be moving into the Central Plains over the next couple of days. The impacts on our area are really going to be rather minimal. We are looking for some rain to hit into northwest Iowa mainly through the day on Tuesday. There is a small chance that there could be a little bit of snow mixed in with that. Better chance of that probably over towards the Great Lakes area — Spirit Lake, Spencer, and eastward farther east into Minnesota and Iowa, they’re actually looking for more accumulating snow. But in the immediate area of northwest Iowa, we’re really looking for mainly rain out of this system.”
She says the likelihood that the rain or drizzle will turn to ice on surfaces in the four northwesternmost Iowa counties is not very high, but a slight chance is in the forecast.
(as said:)”We’ve got some additional moisture coming up and really what we’re looking at… I don’t know if your listeners are familiar with the dew point? That’s really what we’re going to be focusing on as far as the potential for freezing overnight. And right now even the dew points coming into the area are above freezing and the temperature can’t fall below the dew point. So as long as that dewpoint stays up above freezing, we’re looking for just rain or drizzle across the area and really a minimal chance for icing if any .”
She tells us what to expect for Thanksgiving and beyond.
(as said): “Really we’re looking at a nice stretch of weather once we get this system out of here early Wednesday morning. Temperatures are going to be staying pretty much above normal near to above normal looking for highs generally in the 40s the rest of the week. Low temperatures could still be down below freezing. So if we do get any rain with this system up through Tuesday, we could see a little bit of freezing on the roads early Wednesday morning as temperatures start to fall below freezing. Other than that, I’m really not looking for any additional precipitation. So it looks dry through the Thanksgiving weekend with temperatures pretty nice for this time of year.”
Further out, even the National Weather Service’s six-to-ten-day forecast looks pretty mild with above normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation for our area.
