- Widespread freezing rain occurred across eastern Iowa, northeast Missouri, and west central and northwest Illinois on Saturday, December 14.
- Some of the more notable reports that we know as of Saturday afternoon are:
- Many slick roads in and around the Cedar Rapids, IA metro area where over a half inch of flat ice was observed (CID Airport total of 0.68″)
- Iowa City, IA saw over a quarter inch of ice accumulation
- Multiple jackknifed trucks on I-80 as reported through social media
- Numerous branches down across the area due to icing. Some caused power outages
- Numerous power outages in southeast Iowa and far west central Illinois
- McDonough County in west central Illinois, including the Macomb area, saw several large branches down due to ice; nearby Industry
- The conditions that helped this event produce 6-12 hours of icing were:
- A recent very cold air mass from Wednesday afternoon through Friday, which chilled pavement temperatures
- A weather system passing to our south spreading warm air northward aloft but not as quickly at the surface — a recipe for freezing rain
- Wind! Winds gusting 20-30 mph from the east helped aid in ice accretion, especially where rainfall rates were not overly heavy
- NWS Quad Cities and offices to the west, north, and east had issued winter headlines in advance of this, including an Ice Storm Warning for a large portion of eastern Iowa and immediate adjacent areas.
- NWS Quad Cities issues Ice Storm Warnings (widespread >0.25″ of ice and associated impacts) about once every three years. The last Ice Storm Warning for the area was Feb 22, 2023.
***Courtesy of the National Weather Service***
