Forecasters say we're going to get both summer and winter in a matter of hours
By Bob Fenske
All of who have called Iowa home for a while know that the weather in our little corner of the world can turn on the proverbial dime.
Today is one of those days, where a whole bunch of seasons can be experienced in a matter of hours as the National Weather Service has issued both a tornado watch and a winter weather advisory for Chickasaw County.
Yep, you read that right. Summer and winter in a matter of hours.
Let’s start with the good news. We cracked 70 degrees for the first time in 2023 just after noon on Friday.
Unfortunately, it looks like we’re in for a rocky ride this afternoon and tonight, and the National Weather Service office in La Crosse, Wisconsin, issued a tornado watch, beginning at 11:45 a.m. and running through 8 p.m.
“Damaging wind, large hail, and tornadoes are all on the table as storms pass through northeast Iowa and southwest Wisconsin,” NWS officials wrote on their website. “Shelter indoors when storms approach and have multiple ways to receive weather warnings!”
The La Crosse, Wisconsin, site had a potpourri of colors on it with winter storm warnings in Minnesota and Wisconsin, winter weather advisories in the far southern part of Minnesota and tornado watches for all of Northeast Iowa.
And then temperatures will plummet and snow will begin to fall, and although it isn’t expect to amount to much — 1 to 2 inches at the most — it will be accompanied by winds gusting up to 45 miles per hour, making for limited visibility and treacherous road conditions.
That’s why the weather service has also issued a winter weather advisory for Chickasaw County that runs from 1 to 7 a.m. Saturday morning.
UPDATE: Well, that didn't take long for the map to change; in fact less than an hour after this story was posted, the National Weather Service office in Chanhassen, Minnesota, put much of southern Minnesota under a blizzard warning.
So if you're heading north ... you might just want to change plans.
