Like it or not, the frigid winds of winter will be blowing sleet and snow into Iowa at some point soon, and Iowans need to begin getting ready for all the season ahead may hold.
Meteorologist Chad Hahn, at the National Weather Service, says today is Winter Weather Awareness Day.
“The cold weather is going to be upon us before we know it, and now’s that climatological time where we start to think about and get prepared for this transition to winter,” Hahn says, “and to start thinking about some of those things that we can do better at this point when it’s not frigid outside to get us prepared for the winter months.”
Hahn says this awareness day is just that, a way to make Iowans stop and think about things like warm clothes, sand, salt and snow shovels.
“Really what we want folks to do and what we’re asking folks to do is to take a cross-section of what their preparedness looks like for them and their house and their cars,” Hahn says, “and begin to start thinking of this transition that we know that’s coming our way soon.”
Hahn recommends Iowans download reliable weather apps onto their devices, or make sure their weather radios have fresh batteries, while he notes Iowans should be familiar with the differences between a watch and a warning.
“Typically, it’ll be a winter storm watch if we see some concerning weather down the road,” Hahn says. “As it gets closer and confidence grows, we’d be ready to upgrade to a warning whether it be a winter storm warning or a blizzard warning or an ice storm warning and that’s when we really want folks to take action.”
The state climatologist says the strong El Nino pattern could bring Iowa a warmer, wetter winter, with more rain and less snow.
