The 12z Euro dried up somewhat in Iowa. It went from being one of the most bullish models to being one of the driest. The band across northern Illinois would likely be pretty wet.
An initial upper wave puts down a swath of snow from NE to northern IA. Then, another potent upper wave drops down and spins up a new system farther southeast. Very cold air gets pulled down behind the second system.
Three thunderstorms today dropped a total of 0.51" of rain in my yard.
Clouds and storms prevented our temperature from rising above the low 60s. Nothing to complain about.
The rain is holding us down in the mid to upper 50s so far. Low 60s is probably the best we'll do this afternoon. The first shot of spring humidity is nice.
I'm currently getting my second thunderstorm of the day. This time, the heavier cells faded southeast as they approached. I'm getting some thunder, but only light rain.
The Euro has drifted nw and become a bit more robust the last couple runs. Still, the trough is positively tilted and the vast majority of the deep gulf moisture gets gobbled up by Ohio Valley thunderstorms.
Our temp has only been in the mid 20s this afternoon, but the very dry and fluffy 3" of snow is getting zapped pretty quickly by the bright sunshine. Grass is already showing in spots. 30s and sun this weekend will take care of most of the rest.
We were able to hit 58º in the last hour. The wind has died down as well, so it's by far the most pleasant day of the year.
I hope we don't have to wait a month to see 58º again.