Statewide Iowa (RI) — Iowa’s in the midst of a what’s called a snow drought, according to the state climatologist.
While we had three weekends in a row of heavy snows starting right after Thanksgiving, Justin Glisan says there’s been very little statewide snowfall since then.
While some Iowans may rejoice at having to do less shoveling, Glisan says it may become a problem once spring arrives, especially for farmers if there’s little snowmelt and runoff in our rivers.
The new year started out warmer than normal in Iowa, which meant winter storms were dropping more rain than snow.
January was something of a rollercoaster month for temperatures, Glisan says, but we ended up with an average statewide temp of 19.3 degrees, just 0.2 degrees below average.
Long-range forecasts point to that groundhog being correct, he says, with six more weeks of winter ahead.
Forecasts call for parts of Iowa to see temps climb into the 50s next week.
While the calendar shows winter will last through March 19th, meteorological winter ends February 28th.
KIWA Staff Photo
