Hawkeye

Yes, today was much colder than yesterday... low 50s with no wind to low 40s and wind. Friday might have less wind, but it'll still be chilly. We don't really warm up again until Sunday.

This morning's Euro is even colder over here Friday than it is today. The snow cover and east flow off the lakes is really hurting us.

This morning's Euro has mid 70s up to Omaha Tuesday. Wednesday it has a few spots approaching 80º. Other models are quicker with the front and would be much less warm in NE Wednesday.

Once again, sw Iowa is another world compared to east-central Iowa. SW Iowa has already soared into the 60s again this morning while we are still in the 30s... about ten degrees behind yesterday's rise.

The midweek system is kinda turning to crap for Iowa. Instead of a strong, wound-up system, at least the GFS, GFSv16, and GDPS have trended toward a weak system with just some showers along a cold front, then the action behind it gets suppressed.

Somehow, the Cedar Rapids airport actually fell by one degree from noon to 1pm... now sitting at 41º. Here in the city it's near 50º. Satellite shows the city as a big dark spot because of all the snow melt. Meanwhile, the airport is still in the middle of a bright white area in between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City where there is still good snow cover.

The snow-free region of southern/southwestern Iowa continues to easily soar into the 50s while the deep snow pack area east-central Iowa is stuck in the low 40s.

It's 46º here in town, but we've only lost 1" today because we started out cold and didn't get into the 30s until afternoon. There is a lot of bare ground along the interstate through the city. A golf course I drove by has only 1-2" left, with some bare spots.

The grass here late last summer was very dry and brown. I'm hoping that hurt the beetle larvae. The severe drought in 2012 eliminated beetles for a few years.

12z Euro 10-day forecast for Cedar Rapids 29 42 41 47 52 50 52 57 60 62

It's pretty cold today with a temp in the low 30s and a good breeze. Thankfully, it's the last cold day for a while. My snow depth is down to 7-8".

Grass is beginning to show here in spots.... pavement edge, open areas, the path I dug through my backyard. The grass is still a bit green because we had no real cold before the snow began to pile up. When we finally got some harsh cold, deep snow protected the grass.

Tonight's op Euro says hold on. The warm-up in the extended gets delayed and moderated a bit as it shows a massive, cold, upper low retrograding into southeast Canada and spinning for a few days. New England gets stuck under the heart of the cold, but the lakes are at least kept away from any real warmth.

Satellite shows the snow cover gone south of Des Moines. That part of Iowa is rising into the 50s this afternoon.

My snow depth has fallen below a foot, down from 18" at its peak last week.