Eastern Iowa Icing Event to Come at Worst Possible Time

The last few weeks have been one high and low after another. For the most part, that's been exclusively temperature-related. Mother Nature is about to add some ice to the equation.

After Cedar Rapids reached a high of 57 degrees on Sunday, TV 9 meteorologist Kaj O'Mara says we'll climb near 50 today. Tonight is when things will get interesting. As you can see, the National Weather Service map of Warnings and Advisories in the upper Midwest is colorful this morning.

All the counties in pink (above) are under Winter Storm Warnings. Some areas are expected to see more than a foot of snow from a "long duration snowfall event", according to the National Weather Service.

Large portions of Iowa and Wisconsin will go under a Winter Weather Advisory (counties in purple above) later today or tonight, due to the threat of icy travel conditions. The further north you are, the sooner the advisory begins. In extreme northern Iowa, the advisory begins at noon today. In Waterloo, the advisory begins at 6 p.m. Monday night and in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, it goes into effect at midnight.

The precipitation isn't expected to be heavy, however, it requires very little ice to cause big travel problems. According to KCRG, most of the precipitation will likely fall between 6 am and noon Tuesday morning, obviously impacting the morning commute.

Kaj O'Mara says the threat is "mainly freezing drizzle, sleet and scattered freezing rain. Ice accumulation of up to a tenth of an inch is possible. Tomorrow morning's drive will probably be pretty slick."

You can bet crews will be out today putting brine on area roads as they prepare them to make it as safe as possible for all of us over the next 24 hours. Stay safe out there.