textproduct: Des Moines

KEY MESSAGES

- Light falling and blowing snow continues to produce reduced visibilities this afternoon. Winds and blowing snow eventually taper off this evening.

- Additional light snow early Sunday morning over northern and north central Iowa. Accumulations generally under an inch.

- Cold front passage mid-day Sunday brings gusty winds, snow showers, and blowing snow potential Sunday afternoon and evening. Low visibility and travel impacts are possible.

- Wind chills drop into the -10s to -20s Sunday night into Monday.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 245 PM CST Sat Jan 17 2026

Light snow and gusty northwesterly winds have been persistent today, leading to visibilities generally down to a mile or less at times. Falling snow has begun to taper off from northwest to southeast this afternoon, but combination of blowing snow and flurries being squeezed out of stratus continue to produce sporadic visibility reductions. Through the late afternoon and evening, stratus should begin to slowly erode from west to east as the drier high pressure works eastward behind the departing wave responsible for the poor conditions. Pressure gradients also lessen as this occurs, giving us a brief reprieve from the windy conditions overnight. Unfortunately, this break is short-lived, as pressure gradients tighten ahead of yet another wave dropping southward into the state Sunday.

This next wave will first flip winds to more southwesterly, bringing a push of theta-e advection up into the state early Sunday morning. This increased moisture and lift will work to saturate the profile, bringing a wave of light snow through northern and north central Iowa around daybreak on Sunday. Accumulations will be generally around an inch or less, with highest amounts expected over northern and northeastern Iowa. As the wave pivots through, another cold front will bring the northerly component back to our flow. Increased cold air advection will steepen lapse rates behind the front, and bring gusty conditions back to the area mid-day Sunday and through the afternoon hours. Wind gusts up to 45 mph are likely, with higher gusts possible, especially in the northern and western portions of the state. In addition to the winds, steepening lapse rates will bring a shallow layer of lift and saturation through the dendritic growth zone, once again hinting at snow shower potential through Sunday afternoon and evening. This may sound familiar to Friday, where we had concern about snow squalls. However, Sunday's setup doesn't look quite as robust, with less instability and a drier profile working to negate showers. That said, with a snow pack in place over northern Iowa, new snow falling Sunday morning, and potential for snow showers Sunday night, all of which will meet strong winds Sunday afternoon, have decided to issue a Winter Weather Advisory for northern and northwestern Iowa through the day Sunday. This is a weird situation, where there isn't one dominant feature driving the headline, but rather the combination of risks that could lead to drastically reduced visibilities while driving on Sunday. Accumulations will generally be fairly light from snow showers, although a quick inch of snow could occur if a more prominent mesoscale band sets up over an area.

Finally, in addition to the gusty winds and wintry impacts, cold temperatures will fill in Sunday night into Monday morning. This will drop wind chills into the teens minus zero south to 20s minus zero central and north. Given the high confidence in cold conditions, have collaborated with neighboring offices to issue a cold weather advisory beginning Sunday night and persisting into Monday morning when wind chills will be at their worst. Winds will diminish some on Monday, but remain light to breezy through evening, before tapering off Monday evening. Temperatures remain cold through Monday into Tuesday morning, but return closer to seasonal values on Tuesday and Wednesday.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z MONDAY/

Issued at 548 PM CST Sat Jan 17 2026

Light snow is ending as it moves into eastern Iowa and gusty winds from the northwest will diminish into this evening and that will allow blowing snow to subside as well. Most sites will see VFR conditions return overnight, but a band of snow is forecast to move over northern Iowa around and shortly after sunrise Sunday. Have continued PROB30 with possible MVFR/IFR conditions and will look to move to TEMPO or prevailing groups at 6z issuance. Additional, localized snow showers will follow behind a cold front, but confidence in any impact at most terminals is too low to include any mention. Winds from the northwest will increase with gusts over 30 knots at all sits by late in the period.

DMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

Winter Weather Advisory from 3 AM to 9 PM CST Sunday for IAZ004>007-015>017-023>025-033>035. Cold Weather Advisory from 9 PM Sunday to noon CST Monday for IAZ004>007-015>017-023>028-033>039-045>050-061-062.