Eastern Iowa saw below average temps and snow in December, despite multiple winter storms

Despite Iowa’s early, post-Thanksgiving snowfall late last year, and subsequent winter storms in December, Eastern Iowa saw below average temperatures and precipitation last month.

Data published by the National Weather Service’s Quad Cities Bureau shows the average temperature in Cedar Rapids in December was 22 degrees Fahrenheit, about 3 degrees warmer than the normal temperature of 25.2 degrees.

Cedar Rapids recorded about 1.25 inches of total precipitation in December — both snow and rain — which is about a third of an inch less than the normal precipitation.

“Normal” temperatures and precipitation are calculated based on a 30-year period ending with the last completed decade. For the year 2026, the normal temperatures and precipitation are based on data recorded from 1991 through 2020.

December’s report comes months after the National Weather Service released a three-month outlook that predicted Iowa would see above normal precipitation in December, January and February due to a La Nina weather pattern.

Andy Ervin, a senior meteorologist with the NWS’s Quad Cities office, said precipitation has “not been too far off normal” for January so far. He said between the two months, the region has been near normal.

“December was very slightly below normal, and so far, January has been very slightly above normal,” he said. “That's kind of near-normal precipitation, if you took both months as a whole so far.”

While there has been little snow in Eastern Iowa this month, the state saw heavy rain last week. Some areas recorded more than an inch of rainfall in 24 hours.

Ervin said meteorologists break the year up into four three-month segments. Right now is the meteorological winter, which lasts through February before changing over to meteorological spring.

“We’re exactly at the halfway point” through meteorological winter, Ervin said.

In total, Cedar Rapids recorded about 27.09 inches of precipitation through 2025.

Ervin said the several rounds of snow the region received in December helped alleviate some of the state’s drought conditions.

He said much of this is due to when the snow melted. It was absorbed by the unfrozen soil. If the ground had been frozen, the snowmelt would have run off, he said.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, released Thursday, “moderate drought” conditions shrunk to 0.90 percent of the state — in the northwest corner — from 6.13 percent last week.

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“Abnormally dry” conditions also shrunk. Comparing this week’s report to last week’s, the area of the state that’s considered to have dry conditions shrunk by nearly 10 percent, with 43.9 percent seeing dry conditions this week, compared to 53.49 percent last week.

At this time one year ago, 55.83 percent of the state was experiencing moderate drought conditions.

Looking ahead

Although the first part of January hasn’t seen much snow, Ervin said that could change late this week and into the weekend.

“It does look like a chance of snow, especially overnight (Thursday) that there'll be some chance for snow, mostly for areas east of Cedar Rapids,” Ervin said.

Iowans should plan to bundle up this coming weekend as temperatures are expected to plunge into the single digits.

“We could get pretty close to zero degrees on Saturday night, Sunday night and also Monday night,” Ervin said.

Olivia Cohen covers energy and environment for The Gazette and is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues. She is also a contributing writer for the Ag and Water Desk, an independent journalism collaborative focusing on the Mississippi River Basin.

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Comments: olivia.cohen@thegazette.com