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'25-'26 Winter Storm #15

03 Feb 2026 08:13 AM
A compact system dumped a quick inch or two of snowfall over eastern Iowa on Monday evening and into early Tuesday morning. The featured map analysis of available NWS and CoCoRaHS reports shows the largest snowfall totals around two inches found from Cedar Rapids to Davenport. These maps attempt to only show areas that received measurable snowfall, so trace amounts of snowfall are not included. Temperatures are still forecast to nicely warm later this week and any of the meager recently accumulated snowfall over the state will soon be gone.

Voting:
Good: 12
Bad: 1

Tags:   winter2526  

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'25-'26 Winter Storm #14

02 Feb 2026 08:05 AM
After a number of rounds of snow flurries last week that did not produce much more than a trace of reported depth, a slightly more substantial area of snow moved across Iowa on Sunday with a few locations reporting just over an inch of new snowfall. There was also an area of freezing rain during the day on Sunday over northeastern Iowa that made this event more than just a nuisance snowfall. We will have another chance of light snowfall tonight and then a warm-up is forecast later in the week with temperatures finally returning to above freezing levels.

Voting:
Good: 16
Bad: 0

Tags:   winter2526  

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'25-'26 Winter Storm #13

25 Jan 2026 10:15 AM
A major and ongoing winter storm just clipped far southern Iowa with measurable snowfall on Saturday and into Sunday. The featured map shows totals over two inches confined to the southeastern tip of Iowa. Much of the rest of the state picked up a dusting, but below the lowest measurable value of 0.1 inches. This storm is causing major issues over the south and northeastern US with plenty of snow, ice, and cold temperatures. The most significant impact so far is tens of thousands of flight cancellations so far. Such major winter storms over the southern US need a robust supply of cold air to overcome various processes that work against snow and ice over that region. Such is the case with Iowa stuck with another very cold day and ugly wind chill temperatures expected into Monday morning.

Voting:
Good: 8
Bad: 0

Tags:   winter2526  

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'25-'26 Winter Storm #12

22 Jan 2026 08:14 AM
As has been the case with a number of other storms this winter season, not a lot of snow combines with strong winds to create a considerable winter driving mess over northern Iowa on Thursday. The featured map combines an analysis of snowfall reports along with NWS issued Blizzard Warnings and Snow Squall Warnings for the event. There were also High Wind Warnings with this storm system as a number of locations gusted to over 60 MPH. The timing was also unfortunate as it followed an overnight snow from Tuesday evening and so the wind had little trouble blowing this snow around as well. Attention now turns to dangerously cold wind chills forecast for Thursday night into Saturday with much of the state under a somewhat rare Extreme Cold Warning.

Voting:
Good: 12
Bad: 0

Tags:   winter2526  

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'25-'26 Winter Storm #11

21 Jan 2026 09:00 AM
Iowa's full return to winter weather continued Tuesday evening with a quick moving system producing a stripe of one to three inches of snow over northern Iowa. The featured map presents an analysis of available NWS COOP and CoCoRaHS reports showing the largest totals near Dubuque. There is concern that this snow will blow around with winds increasing later today. Additionally, very cold temperatures are forecast for later in the week with wind chill values approaching -40°F over northern Iowa.

Voting:
Good: 17
Bad: 1
Abstain: 1

Tags:   winter2526  

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'25-'26 Winter Storm #10

18 Jan 2026 10:31 AM
After a period of not much in the way of winter weather, the winter season has returned fully with numerous rounds of brief snow showers, strong winds, and bitter cold temperatures. It is difficult to partition these numerous rounds of snow into individual storm events, so the featured map presents a smoothed analysis of available reports over the past two to three days. While totals have been generally light, the snow showers have been sometimes quite intense leading to hazardous driving conditions as visibility rapidly changes whilst driving along. Another round of snow is likely today along with very cold temperatures overnight into Monday. The cold weather looks to stick around for the week.

Voting:
Good: 12
Bad: 0

Tags:   winter2526  

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'25-'26 Winter Storm #9

29 Dec 2025 07:44 AM
Much like how a major winter storm impacted travel on the weekend following Thanksgiving, a significant winter storm has done the same following Christmas. The featured map presents a smoothed analysis of available snowfall reports from the NWS and CoCoRaHS along with counties under a Blizzard Warning for the event and Snow Squall Warning polygons issued Sunday by the NWS. As with the previous winter storm, snowfall totals were not all that heavy, but the rapidly changing conditions and strong winds created for dangerous travel conditions. Travel remains difficult this Monday morning with ongoing blowing snow and some very brief snow showers. Interstate 35 remains closed, at this time, north of Ames to near Mason City. The good news is that sunshine is in the forecast this week, which after a prolonged period of fog will be a very welcome sight and help melt away the ice from roadways.

Voting:
Good: 12
Bad: 1

Tags:   winter2526  

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'25-'26 Winter Storm #8

19 Dec 2025 08:05 AM
It did not take much snow to cause major problems Thursday afternoon over northern Iowa and other isolated parts of the state. The featured map shows a smoothed analysis of available snowfall reports, which generally were a tenth of an inch or less! The counties outlined in red had a Blizzard Warning active sometime during the afternoon hours. Brief and intense snow squalls combined with very strong winds to create rapidly varying visibility and road conditions leading to many multi-vehicle accidents and subsequent road closures. Rainfall earlier in the day likely did not help either as it washed away road treatments and created some icy spots when temperatures rapidly dropped with the frontal passage. Other areas in the state outside of the highlighted Blizzard Warning and measurable snowfall area experienced some isolated travel issues with brief snow squalls.

Voting:
Good: 17
Bad: 2

Tags:   winter2526  

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'25-'26 Winter Storm #7

14 Dec 2025 10:34 AM
Another snow storm impacted Iowa during the weekend, making for the third such weekend in a row! The featured map attempts to provide an analysis of the snowfall reports from the most recent storm and not include reports from the storm that ended early Friday morning. This stripe of snow was not too far displaced from the previous stripe of snow from the aforementioned storm. A number of locations reported upwards of five to six inches of snow. It is somewhat a shame that all this recent snow will not stick around until Christmas as warmer weather this week will melt much of it.

Voting:
Good: 16
Bad: 1

Tags:   winter2526  

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'25-'26 Winter Storm #6

12 Dec 2025 08:10 AM
The very active start to the winter season continued on Thursday with a compact system producing a stripe of snow from the northwest to southeast corner of the state. An inch or so was the most common with a few higher isolated reports near Fort Dodge and larger totals found over far southeastern Iowa. The next round of snow arrives this evening along with bitterly cold air for the weekend. For those of you that are already tired of winter, warmer weather does look likely next week with a number of days with temperatures above freezing.

Voting:
Good: 21
Bad: 3

Tags:   winter2526  

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'25-'26 Winter Storm #5

11 Dec 2025 08:13 AM
While not for a snow producing winter storm, the extreme corner of northeastern Iowa was clipped with three to four inches of snowfall on Tuesday night into Wednesday, so meeting the arbitrary two inch threshold for IEM map generation and winter storm accounting! Iowa was rather fortunate for this event as the blowing snow threat did not materialize after significant melting occurred with the above freezing dew points on Tuesday and coincident strong winds. Our next round of snow is here already this Thursday with a few inches of snowfall expected over a stripe from the NW to SE corner of Iowa.

Voting:
Good: 10
Bad: 1

Tags:   winter2526  

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'25-'26 Winter Storm #4

07 Dec 2025 08:10 AM
Our bout of early winter season snowfall storms continued on Saturday with a stripe of snowfall painted from northwestern to east-central Iowa. The largest reports received so far approached ten inches over far northwestern Iowa. The first few storms presented snowfall measurement challenges, but this one fell quickly and didn't blow around too much. More chances of snowfall are in the forecast, but also a period of above freezing temperatures this week.

Voting:
Good: 25
Bad: 1
Abstain: 1

Tags:   winter2526  

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'25-'26 Winter Storm #3

02 Dec 2025 08:13 AM
Full-blown winter appears here to stay with another round of snow impacting Iowa on Monday into Tuesday. Totals from this event were much lighter with just an inch or two most commonly reported over southern and southeastern Iowa. As a reminder, the IEM generates these maps for snowfall events that have at least an arbitrarily chosen two inch or greater report and/or significant travel impacts. You can find previous event maps for this year and previous years by following the "winter2526" tag associated with this feature message. The next snowfall event arrives this evening, but totals are again expected to be on the light. A bit of quieter weather arrives for the remainder of the week.

Voting:
Good: 11
Bad: 0

Tags:   winter2526  

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'25-'26 Winter Storm #2

30 Nov 2025 10:14 AM
A major winter storm produced a prolonged period of snowfall over Iowa starting Friday evening and lasting into Sunday morning. The prolonged snowfall timing and covering two days makes for a difficult snowfall total analysis, but the featured map is an attempt at such. Reports over a foot were common from central into eastern Iowa. Having this event happen during the busy travel period after Thanksgiving has prompted the unique situation of numerous schools cancelling Monday to allow for an extra day for people to travel back. The map will likely be updated later today as more reports come in and some refinements can be made to the analysis.

Voting:
Good: 39
Bad: 0

Tags:   winter2526  

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Generate This Chart on Website

'25-'26 Winter Storm #1

09 Nov 2025 10:32 AM
The first snowfall of the season for Iowa brought a number of inches of snowfall over northwestern Iowa on Saturday. These early season snowfalls tend to be difficult to measure and report as soil temperatures are well above freezing yet. This event also mostly fell during the daytime hours, so pavement temperatures where plenty warm to melt much of the falling snow as well. So the featured map is a bit rough, but the general pattern shown fits available reports over the past 24 hours. The largest total reported was around five inches near Spencer. The first significant cold air of the season also arrived for the weekend with air temperatures and wind chill values both well below freezing. And finally for accounting, the IEM produces these snowfall maps derived from available NWS COOP, Local Storm Reports, and CoCoRaHS observations when snowfall totals of at least two inches are reported and/or significant winter weather impacts are observed. The IEM has been generating these maps for 16 winter seasons now! These maps are generated from Autoplot 207, but get some manual quality control to help produce a refined analysis.

Voting:
Good: 13
Bad: 0

Tags:   winter2526