CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – The National Weather Service has issued an ice storm warning for portions of eastern Iowa. This comes into effect at 8pm tonight and will remain in effect until Saturday morning.

Your first warning: Wintry mix this evening

Get your travel or errands done as early as possible tonight. The first isolated areas of freezing rain, sleet and snow will form in eastern Iowa as early as 9 p.m. this evening. Mixed winter rainfall increases during the night hours, causing slippery roads and dangerous driving conditions. By midnight, freezing rain will hit most, if not all, of eastern Iowa, with sleet and sleet. Stay indoors and avoid traveling from tonight through Saturday morning.

Warm air will move north through the morning and early afternoon Saturday, changing the wintry mix to rain. This will result in improving travel conditions as locations transition from frozen precipitation to rain. This rain/ice transition line will advance north to near Interstate 80 by midday. By 3 p.m., the transition from frozen precipitation to rain will have made its way north to near Highway 20. Areas north of Highway 20 will hold onto the cold air and frozen precipitation the longest and could continue to experience hazardous driving through Saturday evening.

Keep an eye on the weather tomorrow and make sure you have the KCRG First Alert weather app downloaded on your phone and other devices so you can stay up to date with the latest First Alert updates as this storm hits today night into Saturday when it faces Eastern Iowa.

Conditions improving on Saturday evening and Sunday

Lows Saturday evening will be in the low to mid 30s as precipitation tapers off. Any remaining slippery patches are expected to melt off the roadway as warmer air moves in by Sunday morning. It will be mostly cloudy and dry as temperatures climb into the upper 30s and lower 40s Sunday afternoon. Another round of precipitation (this time rain) moves into Sunday night into Monday morning, while low temperatures fall into the lower to mid 30s.

Changing temperatures and chance of precipitation next week

The rain will ease off Monday morning and we’ll be dry Monday afternoon with highs in the low 40s. Another arctic air mass will see our temperatures drop to highs of 30°C by the middle of next week and 20°C towards the end of the week and next weekend. Lows will be in the 20s on Monday and Tuesday evenings, then fall into the teens by midweek. See you next weekend. Lows in the single digits to almost 10 degrees are possible. There is also a slight chance of snow showers on Wednesday, but the impact appears to be minimal at this point. Stay tuned for updates.

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