Winter Storm — Louisa, Iowa

2021-01-01 · Louisa, Iowa

Event narrative

The COOP observer in Columbus Junction reported 1.5 inches of snow.

Wider weather episode

A weaker winter storm moved into the area and added more ice and snow to the snow pack received the other day. This system moved in from the south and brought along a strong pull of warm air aloft. This led to a lot more ice accumulation than was expected prior to the event. While the storm was supposed to lead to mostly snow for the northern half of our forecast area, those areas received mainly freezing rain and sleet through most of the afternoon. This led to widespread ice accumulations of 0.10-0.25. In the southwest part of our forecast area, more ice accumulation was noted, with many locations reporting around 0.25 or even more. Along with the accumulating ice, some downed tree limbs and power outages were a result.

Mid afternoon, the freezing rain began to switch to snow from a line around Iowa City, IA to Freeport, IL. A relatively strong band formed in this location and dropped around 4 of snow, especially in the Iowa City area. There were widespread reports of 2.3 inches of snow and sleet accumulation across eastern Iowa.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 937898. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.