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Long time without warmth

12 Feb 2010 06:10 AM
Those of you that can recall way back on the first day of December, it was very warm in Iowa that day. Ames hit 60 degrees then. Since then, we have barely reached 40 degrees. The featured map looks at the warmest temperature since the 2nd of December and about only the southern half of the state has seen 40 degree weather in the past 70 some days. The misery looks to continue with more snow and cold forecast for this weekend.

Voting:
Good: 40
Bad: 15

Tags:   jan10   dec09  

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New Normal

09 Feb 2010 04:56 AM
The featured map displays the percentage of time a road segment was reported to be in non-normal condition since the first of December. The orange lines indicate that roughly 40 to 50 percent of the time, the road has required some sort of work by road crews who have put in very long hours this winter. Road conditions will deteriorate today thanks to a strong northwest wind expected to blow the fluffy snow from these past two days around.

Voting:
Good: 22
Bad: 10

Tags:   dec09   jan10   roads  

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Too many spikes

01 Feb 2010 06:09 AM
The featured graph shows an IEM estimate of the areal coverage of NEXRAD reflectivity returns over Iowa for a period dating back to 1 Dec 2009. Each of the spikes in the graph can probably be considered as a storm system impacting the state. Outside of a 10 day period in January where we had lots of fog, there have been plenty of storm systems this winter. Another one is here this Monday morning and expected to bring up to 3 inches of snow for some folks in Northern Iowa.

Voting:
Good: 18
Bad: 4

Tags:   jan10   dec09  

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Many snow reports

28 Jan 2010 06:11 AM
The featured chart presents the daily number of NWS COOP network sites in Iowa reporting measurable snowfall since the first of December. The chart nicely shows how active of a winter it has been with snowfall being reporting nearly each day. Please note that these reports are typically at 7 AM for a period consisting of the past 24 hours at that time. The forecast keeps us mostly dry until early next week when our next winter storm arrives.

Voting:
Good: 24
Bad: 4

Tags:   dec09   jan10  

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January warm up

25 Jan 2010 06:10 AM
After a brutally cold start to January, temperatures have generally been above average for the past two weeks for Ames. The forecast has a return of the cold air starting tonight with lows in the single digits and then highs in the teens for the rest of the week. The good news is that we will see a bit more of the sun even with colder temperatures as the fog and low clouds leave us for now.

Voting:
Good: 24
Bad: 8

Tags:   jan10  

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Cold start to January

08 Jan 2010 07:25 AM
The featured chart displays IEM computed statewide average temperature for the first seven days of January. With an average of zero, 2010 comes in as the fourth coldest start. Even colder air is flowing into the state this Friday morning with dangerous wind chills a concern. Warmer weather is expected next week with highs approaching just above freezing!

Voting:
Good: 46
Bad: 11

Tags:   jan10