Travel still affected by dense fog, steady rain arrives on Friday

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – We’ll eventually get out of the fog, but not until a storm system moves through the region.

Your First Alert: Dense fog persists this evening, tonight

Much of eastern Iowa didn’t see a lot of improvement in visibility today, and the fog has expanded again to include most of the TV9 viewing area. A Dense Fog Advisory is in effect for all of us through Friday morning. Visibility readings have been 1/4 mile or less in many cases.

Don’t expect to see much change in this throughout the evening and nighttime hours. If you are planning on traveling, make sure to use extra caution. Slow down in order to give yourself more time to react to changing conditions, and leave yourself more time to get where you’re going. Low-beam headlights are a must; avoid high beams in foggy areas. Check ahead for flight status updates from area airports, too, as this fog extends across a good portion of the region.

Otherwise, temperatures will be held to a very small range overnight, only slipping a few degrees from where they’re at this evening at most. Lows will be in the upper 30s to low 40s. This should preclude any slick roadways from developing as we stay a decent margin above freezing.

Drizzle will be felt tonight, too, with occasional isolated showers in some spots. These gradually become a bit more numerous toward daybreak, and especially later on in the morning on Friday. By midday, expect pretty widespread rain activity to arrive or develop on top of us. This lasts into the afternoon and evening for several hours of light to moderate rainfall.

Ahead of this, visibility conditions should improve in the morning for a period of time, before becoming somewhat murky again with the precipitation. This will likely be less dense and less widespread than the last couple of days.

Temperatures on Friday will make it back up toward the mid to upper 40s for most as the storm system tracks across the state. Winds will stay pretty light, however, in the 5 to 15 mph range.

Rain largely ends late on Friday evening, but showers could linger as late as early Saturday for parts of our northern zones. Rainfall totals will range in the 0.25″ to 0.50″ for most of us.

Weekend mostly looking good

After this storm system gets out of our area, the weekend is shaping up to be really solid. Skies will gradually turn sunnier on Saturday, and temperatures will remain mild. Highs hit the mid 40s to low 50s from northeast-to-southwest.

We’ll see warm weather continue on Sunday, too, with highs in the 40s area-wide. Remember our normal highs are only in the upper 20s to low 30s! A mix of sun and clouds looks likely again.

Your First Alert: One more storm system this year

Things start to change back to a more winterlike feel early next week as a storm system moves through the region. This system looks to track near and south of the state, with a mix of precipitation on its north side.

This means rain chances return on Monday, with a change to a rain/snow mix or a period of just snow as it exits on Monday night into Tuesday. While heavy accumulations do not look likely, some slick roads could develop as this transition happens. Be ready for changing conditions next week.

By the evening hours of New Year’s Eve, things should be turning drier but colder. All in all, though, it’s looking decent for plans for that holiday.

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