Winter Storm — Muscatine, Iowa

2012-01-12 · Muscatine, Iowa

Event narrative

A trained spotter reported 5 inches of snow in Muscatine. An indirect fatality occurred on January 12 due to a traffic accident on Iowa Highway 38 between Muscatine and Wilton. According to the Muscatine Journal the accident happened at 8 am CST when the driver lost control on the snow covered highway and slid sideways into an oncoming car. The victim was an 18 year old female from Wilton, Iowa.

Wider weather episode

After a day of sunshine and record high temperatures in the lower to middle 50s on January 11, 2012 a strong polar cold front plowed across the region. Behind the front, strong northwest winds gusting to 30 to 35 mph ushered sharply colder temperatures and moderate to heavy snowfall into the area. For many locations this was the first significant snowstorm of the winter. Accumulations were generally in the 2 to 5 inch range but amounts of 6 to 7 inches were found across portions of eastern Iowa and northwest Illinois. The highest total was 7.5 inches near Solon, Iowa in Johnson county. The blustery winds caused considerable blowing and drifting of the fluffy snow as temperatures were in the teens. Wind chill values were in the single digits below zero, a far cry from the mild weather experienced only 18 to 24 hours earlier. An indirect fatality occurred during the morning of January 12 north of Muscatine, Iowa due to a traffic accident on a snow covered highway.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 363239. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.