(Des Moines) Iowa’s State Climatologist Justin Glisan says there appears to be a potential for a winter weather system moving into southern Iowa late next week, carrying a mixture of rain and sleet, freezing rain, with snow on the northern edge. “It appears the track next Thursday brings it across the southern half of the state.”
The past Thursday’s U.S. Drought Monitor showed the abnormally dry category D0 drifting back into portions of the southwest region of Iowa. Glisan says the warmer temperatures melted a good amount of the snowpack and started to thaw the surface part of the topsoil layer, allowing for some moisture infiltration.
“In the short-term outlook, we are seeing the potential for increased precipitation,” said Glisan. “Heading into early spring, we do see a signal near normal to slightly elevated wetness which is much better than the dry signal we saw last year.”
