No white Christmas, but snow could be on its way later this week

By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com

One could only dream about a white Christmas this year in Charles City.

There were no snowflakes on the ground for holiday revelers that were hoping for the white stuff to fall this Christmas season.

But residents of Floyd County may get some snow flurries, albeit a few days late.

A strong storm will impact the Upper Midwest today, with up to three inches of snow possible in southeast Minnesota and Central Wisconsin according to the National Weather Service.

The forecast for the remainder of the week for Charles City shows a slight chance of snow falling starting around noon today. The precipitation will more than likely be a wintry mix of snow, then rain. New snow accumulation of less than an inch is possible. Wednesday’s high is forecast at 36 degrees and the chance of precipitation is 90 percent later that night. Wind will also be a factor as gusts are predicted in the 15-20 mile-per-hour range. After 8 p.m., possible snow flurries will turn to rain with a low of 35 degrees that evening. Rainfall of over an inch is possible that night.

The rain will continue into Thursday with a high near 44 with breezy wind gusts from 10 to 15 miles an hour, but as high as over 30 miles an hour in some places. Thursday night, there’s a 50 percent chance of rain with a low around 32.

Rainfall totals for Wednesday through Thursday are expected to be over an inch and may produce river rises and potentially some minor flooding.

Friday there is a chance of snow and freezing rain before noon, then snow likely in the afternoon with gusty northwest winds possible again on that day. The high calls for 32 degrees during the day and a chance of precipitation is 60 percent. There’s a 20 percent of snow later that night with a low around 15 degrees and winds 10 to 15 miles an hour.

Most snow amounts are looking to be an inch or less and icing will be more of a glazing, but untreated roads may be slick.

The forecast for the weekend looks to be a dry one.

There should be no precipitation on Saturday with a high of 20 and a low of 15 that night. Sunday will warm up a bit with highs in the low-to-mid 30s with a low of 23 degrees.