First wintry weather of season on way for much of Midwest

BISMARCK, N.D. — Some of the first wintry weather of the season is on the way for much of the U.S. in the coming days, including potentially record low temperatures for parts of the South and snow in the Northern Plains, including Iowa.

The Dakotas and parts of southern Minnesota have the highest potential for snowfall late Friday through Saturday morning, including some areas that could see as much as 2 to 3 inches of snow, said Ashton Robinson Cook, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Md.

In Cedar Rapids, the National Weather Service is predicting rain during the day Saturday, followed by a chance of snow between 9 p.m. and midnight. High temperatures Sunday and Monday will be in the 30s, with lows in the 20s.

That’s a stark contrast from Friday, when highs were in the 60s, 70s and 80s across much of the central U.S. Those temperatures were set to plummet as a front spreads from the Northern Plains to the South through the weekend.

"It’s a little bit unusual to have this strong of a cold push this early in the season,” Cook said.

On Monday, temperatures in the 30s and 40s are forecast to move from the Ohio Valley to the southern U.S., where the cold air could produce record lows Tuesday of 24 in Knoxville, Tenn.; 26 in Birmingham, Ala.; 32 in Baton Rouge, La.; and 40 near Orlando, Fla., Cook said.

At the Roosevelt Park Zoo in Minot, N.D., where up to 3 inches of snow is forecast Friday night, the staff has begun typical preparations for the cold, General Curator Chelsea Mihalick said. African animals, including a giraffe calf born Sunday, are already inside heated buildings, and maintenance workers make sure heaters are working properly.

“We've gotten pretty lucky as far as we haven't gotten anything yet, or the cold weather just now has come,” Mihalick said.

Some animals, such as tigers, love the snow. Cubs were born at the zoo in May.

“This will be their first snowfall, so it will be fun to see them running around in the snow,” Mihalick said.

The expected cold spell won't last, though, as warmer temperatures are forecast for much of the central U.S. starting Wednesday and Thursday, Cook said.

“This is a brief cold snap. It won't stay around very long,” he said.