Weekend weather forecast: ‘Miserable’

Saturday's weather is going to be nasty with wind-driven snow stinging exposed skin, reducing visibility and creating slick roads. And Sunday, with high temperatures unlikely to top zero, could be even worse.

This weekend's forecast, with progressively deteriorating conditions, checks all the boxes for winter misery and danger, said meteorologist Richard Kinney at the National Weather Service office in the Quad Cities.

Friday's light snow and freezing drizzle is to be followed Saturday by more light snow and the onset of audibly howling northwest winds reducing visibility to less than a half mile, Kinney said.

Winds topping 30 mph, coupled with falling temperatures, are likely to drive wind chills to 30 below zero Saturday night and Sunday morning, Kinney said.

Blowing snow could cause hazardous driving conditions, and the cold could be 'potentially life threatening” for people unprepared for prolonged exposure, he said.

Though snow accumulations in Cedar Rapids are not likely to exceed 3 inches, this system is going to illustrate 'that you don't need a lot of snow for hazardous driving conditions,” Kinney said.

Though remaining indoors may be advisable, some Eastern Iowans - including Salvation Army bell ringers, snowplow drivers and deer hunters - cannot always avoid the elements.

The weather won't keep Salvation Army bell ringers from greeting shoppers, but they may quit early if conditions deteriorate too rapidly, said Lia Pontarelli, development director for The Salvation Army in Cedar Rapids.

'If the kettles in Linn County and Anamosa collect $10,000 Saturday, an anonymous donor will match it,” she said.

Bell ringers - on duty from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and off on Sundays - are encouraged to wear several layers of clothing and bring a partner so they can take breaks during their two-hour shifts.

'I know it sounds kind of corny, but being around generous people really does warm you from the inside,” Pontarelli said.

At 54 percent of their $805,000 goal, the local unit is 'far behind, and bad weather won't help us,” Pontarelli said. Supporters who don't want to brave the weather can donate online at tsacedarrapids.org.

Snowplow drivers are also going to be busy this weekend.

Reduced visibility from blowing snow is the worst part of the job, said Phil Fangman, who has been clearing Buchanan County roads for 22 years.

'Visibility goes to zero when the plow hits a big drift and snow comes over the blade,” he said.

Drivers have to be especially alert for vehicles that may have slipped off the road or gotten stuck in a drift, Fangman said.

Terry Kress of Quasqueton, whose deer hunting party had filled eight of its 12 tags by Friday, said their deer season is going to end at noon Saturday, even though the second shotgun deer season officially continues until Sunday evening.

'We'll be done at noon, whether we fill our tags or not. It would be miserable out there Saturday afternoon or Sunday,” he said.

Temperatures late Saturday and early Sunday are expected to sink into the low teens below zero. If that occurs before midnight, it would break Cedar Rapids' Dec. 17 record low of 11 below, set in 1985. Cedar Rapids' Dec. 18 record low, 21 below, also in 1985, seems safe.

Starting Monday and continuing through Christmas, seasonal weather is expected to return. Snow already on the ground, subfreezing temperatures and several snow shower chances virtually assure a white Christmas for the northern two-thirds of Eastern Iowa.

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