Cold, Snow-Covered Shotgun 2 Opener!

Over 1/3 of the lower 48 is covered with at least a little snow. With each day winter is sinking further south and settling into the Midwest. In central Iowa we've had 4 out of the last 5 days below freezing -more like January than December. Thursday night central and southern Iowa picked up a light snowy gift for shotgun season.




This image is from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Snofall Analysis. More info here http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/nsa/

 

The heaviest snow fell just south of I-80 in western Iowa, leaving only the NE 1/3 of Iowa snow-free. Here's a look at where the snow band set up last night courtesy of the National Weather Service.

 From a weather standpoint snow does several things: cooler days, colder nights, and it often makes clouds. Cooler days result from refrigerating effects and the white color reflecting most of the suns energy. So the suns rays don't really warm us up much. Bitterly cold nights result when the sky clears and the wind is under 10mph. Cold air then settles and pools over the top of the ice/snow sending the mercury way down. Low temperatures will often be 5 to 10 degrees colder over snow pack than snow-free areas. Fresh snow cover can also create clouds as it melts or the moisture sublimates (goes straight from Ice to Water Vapor). Bottom line, snow is cold and great for hunters (see my blog from November "Snow is a Good Thing").

Low Temperatuers Opening Morning. Brrrrrr. More info
here: http://graphical.weather.gov/sectors/dmx.php

Perhaps the most obvious is visibility. White snow really highlights the deer hiding in timber which gives hunters one more advantage, especially for deer drives. Cold weather also makes deer patternable. It forces them to use the topography and vegetation to help keep them warm and they also need to eat now to burn calories and survive the frigid night-time temperatures. So many deer will now fall back on the late-season bedding areas and preferred food sources. Southern facing hillsides that shed the snow first, often still have areas of green grassy vegetation deer sometimes find attractive. Otherwise, corn fields or standing bean fields are late season favorites of mine. In the morning, I'll hunt heavy travel corridors leading to these late-season bedding pockets and for the evening, I like to be overlooking a food source by early afternoon.

Opening day looks like a 4 star hunting day, and opening weekend will feature above average hunting weather. Keep track of the forecast here. Enjoy and good luck!