Severe winter weather conditions possible in Iowa this week!

[Craig Maire II]

Rdale wrote "Or next time - tell us exactly what you're forecasting

AKA - use actual numbers in your description..."

Will do! Sorry if I came off as a little cocky etc. yesterday Rdale had to much sugar and not enough sleep...LOL Now that I have had time to think about it (and have heard from my peers ) I probably should have used a different word choice than severe.

 

[rdale]

I probably should have used a different word choice than severe.

Or no words at all... "Severe" winter weather to you may not be "severe" to your neighbor. That's why a good forecast has actual numbers -- "Winds to 50mph, Wind Chills to 20 below" etc.

 

[Jeff Miller]

Speaking of actual numbers...

Sitting at 2 degrees. FROPA occured last evening. This morning, had wind gusts to 55 MPH, resulting in branches down and tree damage in scattered areas. A band of moderate to heavy snow moved in reducing visibilities to near zero for a couple of hours, and dropping an estimated 1 1/2" to 2" of snow in the heaviest band, however the amounts are hard to measure with the snow moving as fast as freeway traffic. Impressive cold air advection continues - but snowfall itself is tapering down.

On a note of interest, a snownado-type vortex scooted across an open field as well - with strong short lived rotation much like a dust devil, revealed by the blowing snow. Interesting little vortex it was!

 

[Craig Maire II]

Rdale wrote:""Severe" winter weather to you may not be "severe" to your neighbor"

I forgot about that and hastily put this thread together. Anyhow it is now 11F with winds gusting to at least 36 mph here in Cedarfalls and the Storm Prediction Center has stated that in some snow bands in northern Iowa we could recieve 1 inch+ snow falls per hour!

 

[Darrin Rasberry]

There's been a roughly one hundred degree swing from the low on Friday to the high on Sunday back to the current temperature here in Ames (5 to 50 to 2).

Incidentally, the hairline crack that was half a foot long yesterday now extends over most of my windshield. If someone's playing pranks on me, they forgot to check the door; I stupidly left my car unlocked after I unloaded all the groceries yesterday

Running my finger over the crack (stupid, yes) shows no indication that the crack is anything but internal. The winds were dead here yesterday and Sunday, so there's no indication something could've blown into it, and nothing hit my windshield while driving. There's no "splintering" that sometimes comes with an impact, either, and there's no indentation telltale of a crack on the outside of my windshield. Although it might be a coincidence, I'm beginning to concrete my conclusion that this windshield (replaced in Texas after hailstorm damage reported by the dealer that sold the vehicle to me) suffered this crack and the sudden subsequent extension due to the absolutely wild temperature change.

The roads here aren't covered at all, but are damp with the meltoff yesterday. It's all ice. I'm beginning to wonder how safe it is to drive on this.