Not all snowfalls are created equal, the differentiation if often how much liquid water the given snowfall melts down to. This is called the snow to liquid ratio (SLR) and is often assumed to be 10 to 1, meaning 10 inches of snowfall would melt to 1 inch of liquid water. The actual long term average of SLR in Iowa is likely closer to 13 or 14 to 1. Anyway, the most recent winter storm brought very fluffy snow to the state thanks to frigid cold near surface temperatures and an atmospheric temperature/moisture profile that supported large snowflake production. SLR values from this event are in the 30 to 50 range, which shows you how much variability there is with SLR. The featured map presents snowfall totals with a stripe in the 3 to 5 inch range from Des Moines to Dubuque.

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