Wet roads today; freezing, snowfall overnight

UPDATE: Most roads in Eastern Iowa are wet, but not slick this morning, as temperatures hover just above freezing.

Highways will likely start to freeze solid tonight in northern counties, however, and after midnight through the rest of Eastern Iowa.

“Tomorrow morning could be a mess,” said KCRG-TV9 meteorologist Kaj O'Mara.

The Iowa Department of Transportation lists most roads south of Highway 20 in normal driving condition this morning. Roads north of Highway 20 are listed as difficult, and parts of Interstate 380 between Waterloo and Center Point can be treacherous, according to the Iowa State Patrol.

According to a dispatcher at the Winneshiek County Sheriff's Office in Decorah, roads there are mostly slushy and wet, but some spots are slick.

Eastern Iowa should escape the worst of the powerful winter storm bearing down on the Upper Midwest, but the region could see up to 5 inches of snow Christmas Day after a potentially sloppy, slippery rain-to-snow transition.

“We're going to luck out and miss (the worst), but we're going to deal with the mix,” Chris Legro, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service's Davenport office, said late Wednesday afternoon.

Legro said two to five inches of snow could fall on Eastern Iowa Friday as the storm moves out of the area. Up to 20 inches are predicted for central and northern Minnesota.

Strong southerly winds today mean much of the precipitation falling on the region will fall as rain, prompting a flood watch through tonight for Buchanan, Delaware, Dubuque, Benton, Linn, Jones, and Jackson counties.

“We're expecting temperatures to warm above freezing, which will mean we could see a lot of runoff,” Legro said.

The rain will turn to sleet tonight. With temperatures falling from freezing to the mid-teens Christmas Day, that will turn to snow.

Freezing rain early Wednesday brought down some limbs and power lines, with Cedar County and the Quad Cities particularly hard-hit, said Alliant Energy spokesman Scott Drzycimski.

“There's a transmission (line) issue there,” Drzycimksi said about 4 p.m. “There's several places in that area they've found problems.”

Outages that began about 5:30 a.m. peaked at around 12,000 by midmorning, according to Drzycimski. About 3,000 customers in the Cedar Rapids area were without power. Most service was returned within a half-hour.

“Very sporadic sort of stuff,” Drzycimksi said.

Drzycimksi expected the rain-to-snow transition to be relatively rapid, with little opportunity for ice to develop on power lines.

“If that's the case, we're not too worried about it,” he said.

Aside from a brief power outage, “everything was fine” at The Eastern Iowa Airport, said spokeswoman Pam Hinman. A few morning flights to and from Chicago were canceled due to conditions there.

“So far, it hasn't been anything more than people calling in with questions,” Hinman said.

With airlines operating a reduced holiday schedule, 30 to 32 departures are expected today, down about a half-dozen from most weekdays, Hinman said. She advised passengers to check their airlines' Web sites and toll-free lines for the most accurate flight information.