Winter Storm — Emmet, Iowa

2024-01-08 to 2024-01-09 · Emmet, Iowa

Event narrative

Combination of snow around 4 inches with wind gusts around 35mph.

Wider weather episode

On January 8th, a defined low pressure system made its way across the Central Plains, entering southwestern Iowa into the afternoon and tracking east-northeastward across the state for the remainder of the day and into January 9th. Moderate to heavy wet snow fell for much of the event as increased warm air advection and forcing for lift occurred across the state, before turning into more of a dry snow as the warm sector of the low pressure system pushed out of the region and the deformation zone moved through. Snow totals generally between 5-10 inches were reported across much of Central Iowa, with lower totals over northern Iowa, while portions of eastern Iowa received up to around 12 inches. Gusty winds increasing by January 9th up to 40-45 mph led to blowing and drifting snow across much of the state, leading to low visibilities and therefore continued hazardous travel conditions. I-80 from Des Moines to the Illinois border became a no travel advised zone as multiple crashed were reported.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1156358. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.