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Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Keep digging, Iowa: More snow is on the way
Keep your snow shovel handy.
Iowa still was digging out of the weekend snowfall that brought reports of 8 or 9 inches around Cedar Rapids when the National Weather Service warned more is on the way - starting as early as Tuesday night.
The good news: It won't be as deep. The bad news: It will be wetter.
According to reports the weather service received from trained spotters, the snow that began falling Saturday night and continued Sunday left its deepest impressions in the Corridor on the northern reaches of Cedar Rapids, Marion and Hiawatha. A spotter in Marion reported 9.2 inches from the storm; one in northeast Cedar Rapids reported 8.8 inches; and one in Hiawatha reported 8.3 inches.
Farther south, reports from trained spotters were less but nonetheless substantial. In North Liberty, 7.3 inches was reported and in University Heights, 5.3 inches.
The Iowa Department of Transportation said by Monday morning it still had 385 snowplow trucks on Iowa roads under its jurisdiction. Cedar Rapids said it had deployed nearly 90 pieces of snow removal equipment, including road graders.
Tuesday's high will reach about 22 - but Wednesday will be both warmer and wetter.
Snow is expected to start falling late Tuesday, leaving hazardous driving conditions in time for Wednesday's morning commute.
Iowa City and Cedar Rapids lie more or less atop a line forecasters say demarks the heaviest snowfall prediction from the lightest. To the northwest of the diagonal line that runs roughly from Dubuque to Fairfield, the weather service predicts the chances are greatest for seeing totals of 4 inches or more. Chances of seeing snowfall totals that high lessen to the southeast of the line.
The weather service said Cedar Rapids could get 3 inches of snow late Tuesday and early Wednesday, and another 2 inches during the day Wednesday. Its forecast for Iowa City was just a bit less - 3 inches, then followed up 1 inch during the day Wednesday.
The high Wednesday may get above freezing - but barely.
Gary Greiner cleans snow off his truck while Ken Burnside of Cedar Rapids uses a snowblower to help dig the truck out, after he helped clear snow for a friend nearby in southeast Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. Six to eight inches of snow fell overnight and into Tuesday morning. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)
