The way severe weather warnings are issued in Iowa will be changing a bit this spring. Jeff Johnson, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in metro Des Moines, says watches and warnings will be accompanied by what he calls a tag, or a more descriptive statement. “The tornado tag will have an option between ‘radar indicated’ and actually a ‘tornado observed’ tag,” Johnson says. “With the damage threat tags, we’ll be able to say in terms of a large catastrophic tornado moving toward a metropolitan area, we’ll put that into the warning itself, that way decision makers can make quicker responses.”

The changes come, in part, following the fact 2011 was a historic year in terms of tornado deaths nationwide. Recent studies found some people don’t always understand what severe weather warnings mean, so the tags aim to make it more clear what’s coming down the road. “Nothing’s changing with our watches and warnings, all the coding will be the same, what a Tornado Warning means will be the same, and a watch,” Johnson says. “It will add a little more information on the bottom of the warning so if you just picked it up and saw the warning, you can quickly ascertain what the overall threat of that warning is.”

The changes in the warnings may seem minor, but Johnson says it’s hoped the slight differences may provide vital information that could ultimately save lives. “You might hear a sense of urgency in the announcer’s voice if it’s a ‘catastrophic’ tag, because it’s going to give that person knowledge that this is a significant, major tornado event and to go all out on the dissemination,” Johnson says. “Each tag has a corresponding call to action statement which will be placed in the warning for weather radio listeners.”

The new series of “impact-based” warnings were tested last year in Missouri and Kansas. Now, starting April 1st, they’ll be rolled out in Iowa and ten other states across the Midwest, encompassing 38 National Weather Service offices. Learn more at www.weather.gov.

(Radio Iowa)

The Freese-Notis forecast for the KJAN listening area and weather data for Atlantic….

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (994.0KB)

Subscribe: RSS

341 AM CDT THU MAR 14 2013

TODAY…PARTLY SUNNY. WARMER. HIGH IN THE MID 40S. SOUTHWEST WIND 5 TO 10 MPH SHIFTING TO THE NORTHWEST IN THE AFTERNOON.

TONIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE UPPER 20S. TEMPERATURE STEADY OR SLOWLY RISING AFTER MIDNIGHT. WEST WIND NEAR 5 MPH SHIFTING TO THE SOUTH AFTER MIDNIGHT.

FRIDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. HIGH IN THE MID 50S. SOUTH WIND 5 TO 10 MPH SHIFTING TO THE WEST IN THE AFTERNOON.

FRIDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY THROUGH MIDNIGHT THEN BECOMING MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOW AROUND 30. NORTH WIND 5 TO 15 MPH.

SATURDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. COLDER. HIGH AROUND 40. NORTH WIND 10 TO 15 MPH.

SATURDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE MID 20S.

SUNDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF LIGHT RAIN AND SNOW IN THE MORNING…THEN A SLIGHT CHANCE OF LIGHT RAIN IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGH IN THE LOWER 40S. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 20 PERCENT.

SUNDAY NIGHT…RAIN LIKELY THROUGH MIDNIGHT…THEN RAIN AND SNOW LIKELY AFTER MIDNIGHT. LOW AROUND 30. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 60 PERCENT.

Here’s the KJAN listening area forecast and weather data for Atlantic….

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (907.7KB)

Subscribe: RSS

354 AM CDT WED MAR 13 2013

TODAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGH IN THE LOWER 30S. NORTHWEST WIND NEAR 10 MPH SHIFTING TO THE SOUTHWEST IN THE AFTERNOON.

TONIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. NOT AS COLD. LOW IN THE MID 20S. TEMPERATURE STEADY OR SLOWLY RISING AFTER MIDNIGHT. SOUTH WIND NEAR 10 MPH.

THURSDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. WARMER. HIGH IN THE UPPER 40S. SOUTHWEST WIND 5 TO 10 MPH SHIFTING TO THE NORTHWEST IN THE AFTERNOON.

THURSDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE UPPER 20S. TEMPERATURE STEADY OR SLOWLY RISING AFTER MIDNIGHT. NORTHWEST WIND NEAR 5 MPH SHIFTING TO THE SOUTH AFTER MIDNIGHT.

FRIDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. HIGH IN THE UPPER 50S. SOUTHWEST WIND 5 TO 10 MPH.

FRIDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE UPPER 20S.

SATURDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. COLDER. HIGH AROUND 40.

The Freese-Notis forecast for the KJAN listening area and weather data for Atlantic…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (930.0KB)

Subscribe: RSS

Today: A 20 percent chance of snow showers after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 33. Wind chill values as low as 10. Windy, with a west northwest wind 8 to 13 mph increasing to 17 to 22 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 31 mph.
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 13. Wind chill values as low as 5. Blustery, with a northwest wind 8 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph.

Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 35. Wind chill values as low as 5. Northwest wind 5 to 7 mph becoming light and variable.
Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 27. South southeast wind 6 to 8 mph.

Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 47. South southwest wind 5 to 8 mph becoming west in the afternoon.
Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 32.

Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 56.

Snowfall in Atlantic at the KJAN studios over the past 24-hours ending at 7-a.m. amounted to 5-inches. The translates into a liquid value of .4″.  Unofficial reports said Audubon had 8 inches of snow, Avoca 9 inches.  Here’s the Iowa Mesonet graph of estimated snowfall amounts….

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Authorities are discouraging travel in eastern Nebraska and much of Iowa western Iowa as a late-winter storm heads east.  Portions of Iowa Highway 141 and U.S. highways 59, 30 and 20 in western Iowa were reported impassable on Monday. But Interstates 80 and 29 are open for traffic.

Sections of both interstates were closed for a time on Sunday as heavy snow was blown by strong winds, creating whiteout in many spots. Officials reported several multiple-car accidents Sunday along a 200-mile stretch of Interstate 80 that runs east and west through the two states.

A winter storm warning issued by the National Weather Service remains in effect in until 7 a.m. For much of central and north central Iowa; a winter weather advisory remains in effect for Iowa. North-northwest winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts near 45 mph are expected to cause blowing snow, reducing visibility to less than one-half mile at times.

Iowa’s 511 system is presently reporting that roadways in the Correctionville, Denison and Ida Grove areas are impassible. Roads in western and northeast Iowa are partially to completely covered snow covered. Travel remains hazardous along Interstates 29 and 80 in western Iowa, and also east of Mason City and north of Waterloo.

Unsafe conditions for snowplow operators in keeping roadways open caused the many of Iowa DOT’s maintenance garages to suspend operations across the state. Operations in these areas are scheduled to resume as day light appears and as the wind conditions lessen.

Motorists should exercise extreme caution during the morning commute and while otherwise traveling this morning. Remember, “Don’t Crowd the Plow,” and make sure to carry appropriate winter survival items in your vehicle.

For Iowa road condition information, visit http://www.511ia.org/; call 511 in Iowa or 800-288-1047 nationwide; or visit Twitter @iowadot or @statewideia511. Use the hashtag #iatraffic when tweeting about this winter storm.