Snowplow near Prairie City during the 1-10-2024 Snow Squall Warning

It seems as if winter’s wrath has its focus on central Iowa as a rare warning was issued by the National Weather Service. Marion and Warren Counties were among nearly a dozen warned for a snow squall Wednesday evening.

The advisory was issued for the first time in central Iowa since October 2020, and caused an intense round of snow and near whiteout conditions from west of the Des Moines metro near Adel, on the main interstates in the state’s capitol and surrounding suburbs, and into Jasper County near Prairie City.

Snow squalls have snowfall rates up of to three inches per hour — many communities received up to 1.5″ as a result, including some locations in Warren County. The storm had weakened by the time it had gotten to Marion County. Some communities received 1-2″ of snow from a separate band of heavy precipitation earlier in the evening.

This is the latest winter weather system hitting in the middle of one of the busiest potential weeks in many years as it relates to freezing precipitation; 9-12″ of snow impacted the region on Monday and Tuesday, and another major winter storm is set to hit with some blizzard-like conditions this Friday.