There's a decent chance we will see more rain than snow over the next five days.
While some will see rain as a blessing versus snow, it's not a really great thing to have in the forecast with the snow on the ground right now.
More than an inch of rain is possible across much of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois on Saturday. This will fall on top of a layer of ice (from rain Sunday morning) and more than a foot of snow (from Sunday afternoon and evening). When it starts raining, the water will literally pool and flow over the snow, creating problems in ditches, streams, backyards, and possibly basements.
An inch of rain on top of the 14" of fresh snow with piles of leaves not yet picked up? That's almost a perfect storm for urban flooding on Saturday. https://t.co/2XXr8CGyDm pic.twitter.com/s6O1dkh60g
— EricSorensen (@ERICSORENSEN) November 28, 2018
One thing is for certain: the foot of snow is not going to melt completely. Even with a few afternoons above freezing and an inch of rain on the way, we'll still have more than half of it lying around early next week.
The problem will be in streets with storm drains that are clogged and creeks that are iced up.
We'll have to monitor rivers eventually, but the amount of water is not expected to cause any of them to go above flood stage. Will monitor it, though.
-Meteorologist Eric Sorensen