Eastern Iowa misses most of the snow

Eastern Iowans who received sleds or snowblowers for Christmas won't be able to give them much of a workout this weekend.

“It could be worse, I guess,” Tom Philip, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service's Davenport office, said this morning.

While a huge, slow-moving storm disrupted travel across the Plains States and western Iowa, people living roughly east and south of a line from Ottumwa to Waterloo and Dubuque should find reasonable winter driving, although roads will ice up as the temperature drops today.

“The main thing today would be a dramatic drop in temperatures this afternoon, and rain changing to snow,” Philip said. “But we're not really looking at much in the way of precip.”

Cedar Rapids may see three inches of snow by Sunday, with an inch or two coming today and tonight. After the drop below freezing today, temperatures should hold near 20 degrees tonight and Saturday.

The falling temperatures may cause scattered icy road conditions, and anyone planning travel today is advised to reach their destination before dark.

“It might get icy and that black ice can be difficult to determine,” Philip said.

While travelers can reach destinations to the east, travel west, north, and southwest isn't advised. A blizzard warning is in effect across Iowa's western counties, where up to 11 inches of snow is forecast.