Traffic makes its way though high water covering Dubuque Street near the Grace Community Church Wednesday, April 17, 2013 in North Liberty. Heavy rains have caused flash flooding around the area. (Brian Ray/The Gazette)

UPDATE: City crews here will be keeping an eye on the flash-flood-prone Indian Creek and Prairie Creek through the night, Craig Hanson, the city’s public works maintenance manager, said early last evening.

“The creeks are in their banks for now,” Hanson said.

At midafternoon Wednesday, city crews moved one of the city’s temporary flood-protection systems — called tiger dams — to two spots along Indian Creek, the Sun Valley neighborhood and the area at Sydney Street and 32nd Street Drive SE.

Hanson said heavy rainfall to the north of the city and examples of flash flooding in Iowa City on Wednesday prompted him to go to the “next level of preparations” in the city’s updated flood-response plan and get the tiger dams into spots where they may be needed.

The tiger dams will be taken off a truck, filled with water and connected side by side to provide a few feet of flood protection if Indian Creek begins to flood.

“It is good so far,” Hanson said last evening. “It will depend on the rain tonight.”

If Boyson Road in Marion floods, the creek will crest at Sun Valley about six hours later, he said.

Hanson said Prairie Creek acts a little more like a river and doesn’t rise as fast as Indian Creek. He said more rain just to the west of the city may force Prairie Creek over its banks on Thursday. This normally impacts J Street SW near Hawkeye Downs Road SW, he said.

The city also has moved pumps to the Sun Valley neighborhood, has other pumps at the ready and was deploying filled sandbags at spots in the city.

As for the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids, at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, the National Weather Service’s Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service was reporting that the Cedar River at Cedar Rapids would reach 8.95 feet at noon on Friday.

Otis Road SE is among the first places in the city to take on water, and that occurs when the river reaches about 9.5 feet, according to the National Weather Service’s prediction website.

The river reached 31.12 feet in the city’s historic 2008 flood.

Get more details on Eastern Iowa flooding issues at KCRG.com

A downed power pole occupies the intersection of Washington and Governor Streets near the Alpha Chi Omega sorority house Friday, April 14, 2006 in Iowa City after a tornado tore through the area. (The Gazette)

When Johnson County tested its outdoor warning system last week as part of National Severe Weather week, about 15 sirens failed to activate when they should have.

Officials with the Johnson County Division of Emergency Management said a software upgrade the week prior is to blame for the sirens’ failure to sound right away using the activation system.

The failure forced Johnson County to use its backup system, according to Johnson County Emergency Coordinator Dave C. Wilson. Technicians believe they have resolved the problem, according to a news release, but the county will resume testing this week to be sure.

Outdoor siren tests normally occur on the first Wednesday of every month, but Johnson County had planned to skip the test this week because of last week’s test. Due to the failure, however, sirens will be tested at 10 a.m. Wednesday, according to the news release.

Tests can be cancelled in extreme weather conditions or if there is severe weather – to avoid confusion between a test and a real emergency.

The outdoor warning system aims to alert the public of a tornado warning, which sounds like a steady tone, or an attack, which sounds like a wavering tone. There are three criteria needed to activate the sirens for tornadoes: the National Weather Service has issued a tornado warning for the area, a county trained and certified weather spotter reports a tornado, or a tornado is reported by a local public safety official.

Johnson County can activate all of the sirens at once or just the sirens in one or more of the five siren zones.

Scott Flory of Clear Lake sits in the sunshine on a park bench on S. Clinton St., during a brief break, in Iowa City, Iowa, on Thursday, March 15, 2012. Temperatures this March haven't been nearly as favorable for many Iowans. (Nikole Hanna/The Gazette)

This March has been much colder than normal – an impression amplified by comparison with its 2012 counterpart, the warmest Iowa March in 141 years of records.

The statewide average temperature during the first three weeks of this March has been 7.9 degrees cooler than normal, according to State Climatologist Harry Hillaker.

That might seem more bearable if the March freshest in Eastern Iowans’ memories had not been 14.7 degrees warmer than normal.

The nearly 23-degree warmth gap between this March and last – the difference between greening grass and frozen, snow-covered soil — helps explain why many Iowans are fuming at Punxsutawney Phil, the Pennsylvania woodchuck who on Feb. 2 erroneously predicted an early onset of spring.

As cool as this March has been, it could be much worse. Though Iowa has not experienced a colder March since 1975, it had earlier experienced 15 colder ones. The coldest on record, in 1960, was 15.2 degrees colder than normal, Hillaker said.

The coldest March temperature in Iowa, 40 degrees below zero, was recorded March 1, 1962, in Waterloo, according to Hillaker.

Looking ahead, Hillaker said the remainder of the month will stay “on the cool side of normal,” with the warmest day in the next seven likely to top out around 38 degrees on Thursday, which compares with a normal high for that date in the low 50s.

Longer range forecasts indicate April in Iowa will be “a little cooler than normal,” but not as far below average as March has been, he said.

While last year’s hot, dry March presaged the state’s worst drought in a generation, precipitation has been above normal in Eastern Iowa since late January, Hillaker said.

During the first three weeks of March, Cedar Rapids has recorded 6.1 inches of snow, well more than the 4 inches that normally falls during the entire month.

Unlike a year ago, farmers and gardeners will have to wait awhile to till their soil, which remains frozen in the northern two-thirds of the state.

Though frost depth is not widely measured and recorded, Hillaker cited the following readings on Thursday: Davenport, 6 inches; Toledo, Iowa, 16 inches; and Cuba City, Wis., 18 inches.

Water covers a portion of Ellis Boulevard NW on Monday, March 11, 2013. (Dan Sheffer/The Gazette)

Effective immediately, Ellis Blvd NW is closed between Ellis Rd NW and Ellis Lane NW for street flooding, Cedar Rapids officials announced Monday morning.

The road will reopen when the water level drops, officials said. Traffic should seek an alternate route.

J Street SW at the Prairie Creek bridge and two lanes of Bowling Street SW, between 33rd Avenue SW and 41st Avenue Dr SW, are also closed due to localized flooding.

For a complete list of road closures, please check: http://bit.ly/cJupdw

View Ellis Rd NW & Ellis Blvd NW in a larger map

Snowfall totals vary across western Iowa from the late-winter storm that’s heading east amid flurries.

The figures include 11 inches reported over the past 24 hours at Fort Dodge; 9 inches at Humboldt and Pomeroy; 8 inches at Rockwell City and Webster City; 7.5 inches at Clear Lake; down to 4 inches at Ames; and 2.1 inches in Des Moines.

Several school districts reported closures for Monday. Other districts, including Lewis Central in Council Bluffs, are starting two hours later.

A dog bounds through the snow while on a walk through Noelridge Park on Tuesday, March 5, 2013, in Cedar Rapids. Snow continued to fall Tuesday morning, with 4-8" of snow forecast for the Cedar Rapids area. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

UPDATE: Eastern Iowans spent Tuesday morning digging out from the latest round of snow to fall across the state.

Snow started falling late Monday night and quickly covered roadways. By 5 a.m. Tuesday, all Eastern Iowa highways and interstates were 100 percent snow covered, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation.

Many area schools and businesses either had delayed openings or shut down for the day.

At the height of the storm, the city of Cedar Rapids had more than 100 people working to clear city streets, according to public works maintenance manager Craig Hanson. By late Tuesday morning, crews had cleared Cedar Rapids’ main roads and were working to clear side roads.

The same is true in Iowa City, where city workers had cleared main thoroughfares by late Tuesday morning. According to Johnson County, county plows will spend Tuesday afternoon clearing secondary roads.

In Dubuque, drivers had to navigate the city’s many hills during the morning commute. Despite slick conditions, only minor accidents were reported in Dubuque. Drivers are reporting that Highway 151 south of Dubuque and Highway 136 in Dubuque are completely snow covered.

Crews in Waterloo began preparing for the snow on Monday morning. Mark Rice, public works director for Waterloo, told The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier that crews pre-treated roads with salt and sand ahead of the snow. Rice said crews encountered some problems because of snow already on the ground.

Law enforcement agencies responded to dozens of minor accidents across Eastern Iowa, but no serious accidents were reported.

Get more on the winter storm from KCRG-TV9

Linn County Auditor Joel Miller talks to voters as they stand in line to cast their ballot in the Cedar Rapids casino vote at the Auditor's Office on Monday, March 4, 2013, in southwest Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (Jim Slosiarek/Gazette-KCRG)

CEDAR RAPIDS — Linn County Auditor Joel Miller says regardless of the weather Tuesday, polling places for the casino vote will remain open.

Miller said that includes locations, such as schools and churches, that might be closed for normal business because of the weather.

Miller also spent part of Monday finding replacements as some people called to say they would not be able to beat the snow to work the polls today.

Any kind of weather concern tends to affect voter turnout. But with expected temperatures in the 30s Tuesday, the salt that road crews put down should work quickly to melt the snow.

But that’s not enough to ease the fears of people passionate about this casino vote.

Some 20,504 Linn County voters have requested absentee ballots. And Monday, employees in the auditor’s office worked to get those votes stamped, opened and counted.

But dozens more lined up to cast a ballot in person Monday.

“I’m afraid tomorrow I won’t get out,” said early voter Donald Carter.

There was a consistent line at the auditor’s office Monday from morning into the afternoon. But once voters got to the front of the line, there was just one question to answer on the ballot, do they want a casino in Linn County or not.

“The ballot is simple. I mean, I don’t see how you could mess that up, even me,” said Carter.

Rosemary Trimble of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, checks in absentee ballots for the Cedar Rapids casino vote at the Linn County Auditor's Office on Monday, March 4, 2013, in southwest Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Trimble and Margaret Kaplan checked about 1,000 ballots Monday morning. Twenty thousand ballots were requested. (Jim Slosiarek/Gazette-KCRG)

But just getting to the polls could prove a challenging task for some Tuesday. And that’s why both the “Vote Yes” and “Just Say No” groups have been encouraging people to vote early.

“We were headed to probably record turnout before the weather. I don’t know what we’ll have tomorrow,” Miller said Monday. “It depends on what we get tonight and whether the streets get cleaned and whether people can get to the polls”

One voter said he offered to pick up friends who don’t have transportation to get them to the polls, but only if their vote will help his cause.

Some voters said they walked to the county auditor’s office to vote. Which is why the Miller is asking everyone to get out early and shovel the sidewalks, especially if they live near a precinct.

The snow forecast as of 8:45 a.m. Monday. (image via KCRG-TV9)

Snow has started to fall in northern and eastern Iowa, but meteorologists say heavier snow is on the way.

The National Weather Service said an inch and a half of snow had already fallen on Charles City by 5:30 a.m. Monday. The service says the snow band is expected to leave up to 3 inches in some parts of northern or northeast Iowa.

The heavier snow is expected to arrive Monday night, totaling up to 6 inches by sunrise Tuesday and as much as 8 more inches by Tuesday evening before the storm exits to the east. Blowing snow and drifting are expected Tuesday afternoon.

The weather service says travel will become dangerous and all but impossible in some locations.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) — Another blast of winter weather is forecast to start in eastern North Dakota and track southeast into Minnesota and Iowa, the National Weather Service said Sunday.

The weather service has issued a winter storm warning from 6 p.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. Tuesday for a system that is expected to dump the heaviest amounts of snow in eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota.

Click here for local weather coverage from KCRG-TV9

North Dakota could see 8 to 12 inches of snow, with the highest amounts in Devils Lake, Grand Forks, Mayville, Fargo and Wahpeton. Up to 6 inches could fall in areas of far northeastern South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa, the weather service said.

“It looks like the Red River Valley is squarely in the target zone,” Greg Gust, NWS meteorologist in Grand Forks, said Sunday. “It should start to slide southward into southern Minnesota and northeastern Iowa.”

A cold, dry air mass over western Ontario should keep the storm from spreading into northeast Minnesota and western Great Lakes, Gust said.

“Unfortunately, the heavy snow just wants to track down through that Milwaukee and Chicago area,” Gust said. “That tends to be a favored track.”

The storm comes on the heels of a weather service prediction for major flooding in Fargo and Moorhead, Minn., where residents in the metro area of about 200,000 people have battled high water in recent years. But Gust said precipitation from this storm would be considered normal and is already figured into the equation.

“When you look at the outlook we had in February, I wouldn’t expect it to change that much with this storm,” Gust said. “Now if we would get another one right after it, then we would start saying, oh, that’s pretty significant.”

Travel in eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota is expected to become difficult late Sunday into Monday. Winds throughout the storm are expected to range between 10 and 25 mph, which could reduce visibilities to less than one quarter of a mile at times, weather service said.

Jeremy Timmerman begins work on an owl made of snow completing an elephant Tuesday Feb. 26, 2013 in Burlington, Iowa. It took Timmerman about two hours to make his first creation. The Burlington area saw about 4-5 inches of snow accumulation during Tuesday's storm. (AP Photo/The Hawk Eye, Brenna Norman)

Iowa officials warn that travel remains hazardous as snow from a surprising snowstorm continues to fall.

Travelers are urged to check road conditions by visiting http://www.511ia.org, calling 511 in Iowa or 800-288-1047 nationwide. No weather-related road closures have been reported so far Wednesday.

The storm has dropped more than 9 inches of snow on some areas of Iowa and has perplexed forecasters.

National Weather Service meteorologist Jeff Johnson told the Des Moines Register that the storm moved 100 miles off its expected course and loosed a blanket of heavy snow instead of merely dusting central, eastern and southern portions of Iowa on Tuesday.

Johnson says he can provide long meteorological explanations about the storm’s behavior, “but basically it didn’t do what we expected it to do.”