7 Day Forecast
SIOUX CITY | Iowa State Climatologist Harry Hillaker often gets asked about the chance of November snow.
The type of snow that can throw a wrench -- or a drift, in this case -- into the best-made Thanksgiving plans.
Nov. 28, according to Hillaker, is the average date for the first inch of snow in Iowa. Thanksgiving Day falls on Nov. 24 this year.
"So, yes, Thanksgiving weekend is roughly about where our first winter weather occurs," Hillaker said.
Sioux City received 5 inches of snow on Nov. 20, 2015. An additional 6 inches fell on Nov. 30, 2015. The Thanksgiving holiday occurred near the middle of that 10-day stretch, on Nov. 26, 2015.
Snow piled higher around Sioux City in that first winter brush one year ago, as Spencer, Iowa, was blanketed with 10.5 inches; Le Mars, Iowa, nearly 12 inches; and Hawarden, Iowa, 14.5 inches.
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The storm, which was forecast to drop up to 18 inches of snow on the region, resulted in early school dismissals and, for the first time, a postponement of the 15th annual Candlelight Christmas celebration at Hartington, Nebraska.
The Iowa High School Athletic Association also postponed for three days championship football games at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
The next snow storm swept into Sioux City as the Thanksgiving weekend wrapped up, coinciding with the arrival of teams and fans attending the NAIA National Volleyball Championship at the Tyson Events Center. As the players from Biola University in La Miranda, California, made snow angels, Corey Westra, the tournament director, juggled staffing assignments, uncertain if each worker or volunteer could reach Sioux City in the icy, slushy, snowy conditions.
There is good news for holiday travelers: While November snows do happen, they're not that common. The final week of November, Hillaker said, isn't really that snowy in Iowa.
If the Thanksgiving holiday took place just one week later, he reported, chances of snowfall would spike dramatically. The odds for snow in the first week of December in Iowa are the same odds for the rest of the winter. In other words, you have just as good a chance of getting snow on Dec. 2 as you might on March 10, and every day in between.
That doesn't mean heavy snowfall won't arrive with a serving of pumpkin pie this Nov. 24.
It was during that week in 1983, for example, that Sioux City recorded its eighth largest snowfall, a Nov. 28 blast that measured 12.4 inches and contributed to all sorts of interruptions. That particular storm is often referred to as the "Thanksgiving blizzard" in Colorado, as it struck that state two days before descending on Iowa. Thousands of holiday travelers waited out the storm at Denver's Stapleton Airport, which closed for 24 hours as Denver residents dug out from 21 inches of snow in 37 hours.
Two of Iowa's largest winter storms took place prior to Thanksgiving, showing that virtually anything is possible with Mother Nature. The famed Armistice Day Blizzard on Nov. 11, 1940, saw temperatures in Iowa drop as much as 30 degrees in two hours. Primghar, Iowa, paced the state with 17 inches of snow on that day. Up to 200,000 turkeys died in the storm and a plane crashed at Spirit Lake, Iowa, killing four men.
That storm, it's been said, effectively ruined Iowa's apple industry for decades.
"That had been a very mild fall and much of the state didn't get a killing freeze until Nov. 6, 1940," Hillaker said. "That cold snap ended Iowa's apple industry, killing almost all the apple trees in Iowa."
In Keokuk, Iowa, on that day, the temperature went from 79 degrees to 11 degrees in 18 hours.
Iowa's worst ice storm came on Oct. 30, 1991, leaving 80,000 homes without power after 2 inches of ice covered wires across the state. The ice caused an estimated $5 million in crop damage as the harvest wasn't completed. High school and collegiate playoff games in football were moved to the DakotaDome on the campus of the University of South Dakota, an indoor venue that hosted 17 games in six days at that time.
Take heart, Siouxland residents. While you may need a heaping helping of stuffing to ward off snow and cold, there's also a chance you can eat your ham out on the deck. That, too, has happened.
Hartington's first Candelight Christmas unfolded in sunshine and 60 degrees. Shoppers in shirt sleeves paraded up and down picturesque Broadway Avenue, nary a shovel in sight.
