Blizzard — Floyd, Iowa

2025-03-05 · Floyd, Iowa

Event narrative

The combination of falling snow and strong winds allowed for visibilities to drop to a quarter mile or less resulting in blizzard conditions during the morning hours on March 5th in Floyd County. At the AWOS in Charles City, a 55 mph peak wind gust was measured during this period with visibilities falling near or below a quarter mile for over 3 hours. Snowfall totals across the county were fairly light of around 1 inch or less with the highest reported snowfall total being 1 inch, 2 miles west-southwest of Nashua.

Wider weather episode

During the first week of March, a powerful mid-latitude cyclone progressed through the Upper Midwest overnight on the 4th and into the morning and afternoon on the 5th. As this occurred, rain changed over to snow with increasing winds during the early morning hours on March 5th. Widespread wind gusts of 45 to 55 mph with falling snow led to visibilities falling to a quarter mile or less, resulting in blizzard conditions across portions of northeast Iowa.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1230526. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.