© 2024 Iowa Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Least Amount of Snow in Des Moines History

Michael Leland
/
Iowa Public Radio
Des Moines’ first snow for the 2017 season yields .1 inch on December 21st.";

It’s been 725 days since Des Moines has received more than three inches of measurable snow. The last time this happened was in the 1920s.  Kelsey Angle from the National Weather Service says a lack of snow could hurt next year’s farm crops.

“If we continue to see a deficits in regards to precipitation and particularly snowfall as we head throughout the winter months, that could have some serious consequences as we go into the spring and the summer," he says.

Overall, central Iowa is below the average of 40 inches of annual precipitation by six inches. 

Angle says just because we haven't received a significant snow storm for two years doesn't mean it can't happen as soon as next month.

“It just takes a couple of big storms to take that snowfall and those numbers to well above average instead of the deficits that we’re seeing right now.”

The weather service predicts early 2018 will be colder than normal.

John Pemble is a reporter for IPR