Monday winter weather

**Ms3r4ISU** · 01-25-2010, 02:08 PM

Daylight driving in winter is always better. Plus, give the gung-ho drivers time to get wherever they "have" to be first, and you'll have more time and road to yourself.
Be careful and stay safe!

**theshadow** · 01-25-2010, 02:23 PM

Originally Posted by garn91

Effective when? The DOT & State Patorl road conditions website doesn't reflect this.

Iowa DOT Travel Information Service

Effective as of roughly 2:00. I was heading back to Ames from DSM, and they were closing the barricades to the northbound ramps as I got off I-35 at Hwy 30.

**jsb** · 01-25-2010, 02:26 PM

Basically, the western half of the state now has travel not recommended with lots of road closures.

It still boggles my mind that this has turned into a major winter storm with hardly any warning.

**hawkfan** · 01-25-2010, 02:29 PM

Up in NW Iowa.....you cannot see past the hood of your vehicle at times....no way you could safely travel right now.....doesn't look like it will improve until after midnight.

**Ciclone** · 01-25-2010, 02:30 PM

Random tip: Make sure you have sufficient wiper fluid.

**theshadow** · 01-25-2010, 02:40 PM

Interstate 35: from after Exit 102: IA 210 to before Exit 113 13th Street
route impassable
last updated today at 2:28 PM CST

Interstate 35: from Exit 111: US 30 to Exit 190: US 18; IA 27
route impassable due to a winter storm —
Comment: 2 p.m. News release - The Iowa Department of Transportation , in cooperation with the Iowa State Patrol, is in the process of closing both the northbound and the southbound lanes of Interstate 35 from US 18 to US 30. The I-35 entry ramp gates are being closed so that no additional vehicles can enter the roadway, which is already littered with multiple crashes.
last updated today at 2:17 PM CST

Interstate 35: from after Exit 111: US 30 to before Exit 193 4th Avenue South
route impassable, reduced visibility, towing services prohibited
last updated today at 2:24 PM CST

Interstate 35: from after Exit 203: IA 9 to IA 27; Iowa - Minnesota Border
route impassable, reduced visibility, towing services prohibited
last updated today at 1:50 PM CST

**Ms3r4ISU** · 01-25-2010, 02:42 PM

Originally Posted by Ciclone

Random tip: Make sure you have sufficient wiper fluid.

Random tip 2: Clean off your headlights before you drive. Then, use your headlights when you drive.

**jsb** · 01-25-2010, 02:44 PM

Originally Posted by Ms3r4ISU

Random tip 2: Clean off your headlights before you drive. Then, use your headlights when you drive.

No kidding. Coming home from the game on Saturday in that crazy dense fog, there were tons of cars that did not have their lights on. Also today, I saw a car which had only cleared a spot about the size of my hand on their car. Crazy.

**cstrunk** · 01-25-2010, 02:50 PM

Winter storm prediction is definitely one of the most difficult aspects of weather forecasting.

It gets the most attention by the public as well because it is usually the type of weather that affects them the most.

While it's the same basic concept (precipitation), snowfall forecasting can be much different than rainfall forecasting.

**jsb** · 01-25-2010, 02:54 PM

Originally Posted by cstrunk

Winter storm prediction is definitely one of the most difficult aspects of weather forecasting.

It gets the most attention by the public as well because it is usually the type of weather that affects them the most.

While it's the same basic concept (precipitation), snowfall forecasting can be much different than rainfall forecasting.

I can see that, I am curious how they missed the forcast with the wind though.

**garn91** · 01-25-2010, 02:55 PM

Originally Posted by jsb

I can see that, I am curious how they missed the forcast with the wind though.

wind was always in the forecast yesterday, a blizzard was not. The joys of living in Iowa

**cstrunk** · 01-25-2010, 02:57 PM

Originally Posted by garn91

wind was always in the forecast yesterday, a blizzard was not. The joys of living in Iowa

Yeah, it was supposed to be windy.

But instead of 1" or less of snow, we have 2-5" of snow. And instead of windy conditions, it's now VERY windy and thus we have our 3rd Blizzard of the still young (

) winter...

**CyBride** · 01-25-2010, 03:01 PM

Originally Posted by garn91

wind was always in the forecast yesterday, a blizzard was not. The joys of living in Iowa

just curious on how they didn't at least think of, or mention limited visibility? 2-5" of fresh snow and known predictions of 30 mph wind, lead me to think, hhhmmm, might be a lot of blowing snow today. I don't pretend to know a lot about weather forecasting, and I know it can be really tough. They get a bad rap sometimes, but I am just suprised that I heard nothing of this at all this morning. I even said to my husband, what if this is like a blizzard with the wind and all the fresh snow????