Jan 17th-19th Rain/Snow/Mix/LES System

[East Dubzz]

Coming down very good. Now big flakes, but a ton of them. Sticking to the roads quite a bit, obviously. Probably not going to be a super pleasant drive home from work in a few hours. 

[shakjen]

Flurries starting here

[hlcater]

4-5" seems like a lock at this point. Could reach 6" if flake size improves even a little bit or if we get additional snow showers tomorrow.

[BMT]

HRRR continues to bring the low through further and further south.  would be nice to get some good wrap around snows tomorrow am.      

[shakjen]

Flurries starting here

7 minutes later it is snowing hard

[james1976]

Just took a walk around the yard. Awesome stuff. Nice rates and the wind is starting to pick up a bit. Gonna be hard to measure soon. Pushing 3" now.

[Hawkeye]

Here's the problem with this system.  It started only a couple hours ago, but on radar the back edge of the heavier snow is already in sight.  That's life in Iowa, though.  We can get heavier snow for a couple hours or 12-24 hours of light to moderate snow.  At some point you'd think we'd be in line for a 12-24 hour heavy event.

[james1976]

Yeah back edge will be here in a couple hours

[james1976]

Gonna be hard to measure pretty soon with the wind picking up. That's the only thing I dont like about windy snowstorms.

[Hawkeye]

I'm up to 2.6".  That means 1" in the last hour.  This is nice, but I was hoping for pound town.

[St Paul Storm]

MPX talking 1-2” per hr rates under these heavy initial bands. Pouring snow at the moment.

[East Dubzz]

I'm up to 2.6".  That means 1" in the last hour.  This is nice, but I was hoping for pound town.

 

Beggars can't be choosers, Hawkeye. That's what I've been trying to tell myself, at least. 

[shakjen]

Temp as gone down 2 degrees in the past hour.

[St Paul Storm]

RAP and HRRR get an hour or so of mixing up here overnight. No talk of mixing in the forecast though.

[bud2380]

2.1” down here. Flakes are small.

[hlcater]

Things are starting to fall apart on radar over the past 30 min or so. Looking like a max of ~4" is all we can hope for.

[james1976]

Just measured between 3.1 and 3.7 so I'll go with 3.4 currently

[OmahaSnowFan]

High wind warning issued here now for tonight from 2a-8a for winds up to 60 mph.

[james1976]

Poundtown now with fatties! Kinda makes me wonder if its warming aloft.

[jaster220]

Indeed amigo. This storm also has some strong winds w it as well. I will be experiencing winds gusting to as high as 40mph along w hvy snow. Whiteout conditions could be happening at times.

 

 

Awesome! Not sure what to expect with my office's nonchalant attitude on this. Hoping they don't "get lucky" with a crappy headline call. 

[Beltrami Island]

Recent snowplow cam from near Fargo/Moorhead showing blizzard conditions.  No travel advised already on I94, can only imagine a matter time (sunset) before its closed?  Only thing missing so far are the finger drifts going across the highway haven't quite formed by the looks of it, those buggers sneak up on you when the start getting some depth to them. 

[Hawkeye]

The brighter radar returns just passed to the east of Cedar Rapids, so the rate should begin to decline by 4pm.  The rate over the last hour has been pretty good, with better flakes size.

[St Paul Storm]

Visibility down to 0.25 miles. I’ve been so focused on the snow that I didn’t even realize the wind chill is currently 0F.

[Tom]

It's show time...first band just formed over head and its officially snowing with small and occasional medium sized flakes...

[St Paul Storm]

It's show time...first band just formed over head and its officially snowing with small and occasional medium sized flakes...

Good luck Tom. Hope you score a nice surprise. You guys in chitown need a gift.

[james1976]

Should be done in an hour. Hope to hit 4" at least

[Hawkeye]

1.3" last hour, puts my total at 3.9" at 4pm.

[james1976]

1.3" last hour, puts my total at 3.9" at 4pm.

Doin well. Gonna top me

[FV-Mike]

Consistent small flakes started

[hlcater]

1.3" last hour, puts my total at 3.9" at 4pm.

 

Yea I just went out and measured 3.9" as well. I didn't think we had that much. With that in mind, I gotta take back my earlier post, because I assumed we hadn't reached 3" yet.

[East Dubzz]

Yea I just went out and measured 3.9" as well. I didn't think we had that much. With that in mind, I gotta take back my earlier post, because I assumed we hadn't reached 3" yet.

 

Make up your mind negative nelly.

[Tom]

Good luck Tom. Hope you score a nice surprise. You guys in chitown need a gift.

Thanks!  Hope so to...I wasn't expecting it to fill in so quickly but it did!  Hopefully it continues at a good clip like those who are experiencing it out west.  Actually, just as I look out the window it looks like a wall of white swept in...pure awesomeness!  I love it when it snows like this...ground whitened up rather quickly.  #backtowinter

[Hawkeye]

The mix is coming.... Des Moines and Ottumwa are both reporting freezing rain at 4pm.  Fortunately, much of the good precip will fall as snow.  A little mix after a solid snow dump is no real complaint.

[james1976]

3.8" is my avg measurement. Starting to mix with frz drz now

[bud2380]

HRRR continues to show 1-3” in eastern Iowa tomorrow morning with one final band that moves through

[james1976]

HRRR continues to show 1-3” in eastern Iowa tomorrow morning with one final band that moves through

How's it lookin up here?

[Hawkeye]

HRRR continues to show 1-3” in eastern Iowa tomorrow morning with one final band that moves through

 

A few models have hinted at some decent snow from the final piece of energy, but I have not been counting on it.  Another inch from that would be a nice bonus.

[hlcater]

A few models have hinted at some decent snow from the final piece of energy, but I have not been counting on it.  Another inch from that would be a nice bonus.

 

I may be bullish, but I would not be surprised to see blizzard warnings fly in this area tomorrow if that band (especially the HRRR's depiction) is realized. 1-3" of snow combined with NWly winds gusting to 50mph across a frictionless surface sounds like a fun time to me.

;

[Tom]

Already picked up 0.6”...snowing at a pretty good clip. Very dry and powdery snow.

[hlcater]

Sleet is moving into Benton County. 2-3hrs ahead of forecast.