Heavy Snow in Iowa, January 26, 2004

A long lived snow event took place in Iowa during the day on the 25th into the day on the 26th. The seasons first significant push of Arctic air was underway as a strong cold front sagged south across the area on the 24th. Initially the airmass was quite shallow, with a layer of above freezing air located over south central and southwest Iowa. Snow began in earnest shortly after sunrise on the 25th. The accumulation rate was slow, but continuous through the 25th into the 26th. During the initial stages of the snow event, freezing rain was reported over the southwest part of the state. Roads became icy quite quickly, resulting in 4 traffic related deaths. The freezing rain changed over to snow within a couple of hours. From that point on, snow spread northeast across the CWA through the day on the 25th into the evening hours. The heaviest snow occurred over the west third of Iowa where a significant north to south deformation zone became established. The upper air flow was from the southwest as an upper level closed low approached from the southwest. Snowfall of a foot or more was recorded in a few locations. Nearly 12 inches fell in Cass County at Atlantic. In Crawford County at Denison, 12 inches of snow was recorded with 10 inches reported in Sac County at Sac City. These were the heaviest totals in the DMX CWA. Reports indicated somewhat heavier amounts occurred just to the west with upwards of 14 inches reported in Glenwood. Late in the storm, a mesoscale feature developed over southwest Iowa and moved into the central counties. Heavy snow fell at the triple-point as it lifted northeast. A narrow band of 8 inch snow fell from around Dallas Center in Dallas County, northeast into the Ames area of Story County. Total snowfall over much of the remainder of northwest and central Iowa was in the 4 to 7 inch range. Following the snow, gusty northwest winds of 20 to 35 MPH swept southeast across the state. This caused considerable drifting snow and patchy blowing snow. Wind chill indices fell into the -25 to -40 degree range over the northwest two thirds of the state.