April showers bring May flowers — but April snow?

The infamous Iowa weather took yet another unexpected turn Thursday. It snowed most of the day, prompting locals to dig out their winter gear one more time. Ames received less than an inch of measurable precipitation Thursday, far less than other areas of the state, since the snow melted so quickly.

Nonetheless, the worst is expected today.

Eric Pytlak, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said central Iowa will see about 6 to 10 additional inches of snow today. Some areas will see more than a foot today, but the winter weather should clear off tonight.

“The main problem with this storm is not the roads since the ground temperature is above freezing, but the heavy snow accumulation on the trees and power lines,” Pytlak said.

He said a low pressure system is moving east, bringing again another blast of winter.

“The snow is caused because of a storm system over Colorado right now, which is drawing up moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. The storm is very slow moving so that makes it a little worse than usual,” he said.

Pytlak said — thankfully — this is likely to be the last big snow storm of the season.

Elwynn Taylor, a climatologist for ISU Extension, said, “The weather we are having is not uncommon. Usually, April 15 is the last date in a year when there is a measurable snowfall.”

Still, several students were bewildered about Thursday’s weather. Some were downright angry. “What the hell is going on! It is April 10, and I am supposed to be wearing shorts right now,” said Sarah Slack, a freshman in English education.

“The weather totally sucks. I had to drive home at two in the morning because I thought I might get snowed in and then I would have to miss all my classes,” said Mark Funk, a sophomore in business.

Some had a more novel approach to the springtime snow. To capture the mood, KLYF, a Des Moines radio station, played Christmas music Thursday afternoon to bring some “cheer and joy” to what might have otherwise been a depressing day.

Though the snow largely wasn’t well-received, members of the ISU community should be grateful the weather isn’t as bad as April 10, 1973. That morning, students woke to 65 mph winds blowing 18 inches of snow over central Iowa. In some places, the drifts were close to 30-feet high. Fourteen people throughout the state died and babies were born in cars because treacherous roads and visibility made it almost impossible to reach hospitals.

Thousands of cattle perished as well. The winds were so bad that they would push the cows against fences, freezing them to death. Truckloads of dead, frozen cattle had to be hauled away.

Taylor said today’s weather could be part of a global warming trend. Taylor maintains that although Iowa weather is often strange, global warming lends to even more extreme weather.

“Maybe, everyone knows the weather is becoming a little more extreme than what it was 20 years ago. With global warming there is more energy on the earth so that makes the storms and weather worse. Some people don’t think global warming is connected in any way to the weather, but I think it could be connected,” he said.