Checking out NOAA’s forecast for Des Moines for the next seven days…

Today: Periods of snow, mainly before noon. High near 27. North northwest wind between 8 and 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow accumulation of around an inch possible. Sunday: A 20 percent chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 33. South southwest wind between 5 and 8 mph. Monday: A 20 percent chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 26. New Year’s Day: Scattered flurries. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 12. Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 4. Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 25. Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 12. Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 31.

Fun! Lovely weather for that last-minute push! “Hey, everybody! Let’s head out to the big campaign rally at the town square!”

To the extent this affects the caucuses, I figure this hurts the challengers – Thompson, most notably. He needs crowds at his events, and could really use some quote, some gaffe by a frontrunner, some YouTube moment that changes up the race dynamics in the final days. Although one guy following the state closely tells me the worst case scenario for his preferred candidate, Romney, is “an ice storm in Eastern Iowa that some how misses western Iowa.”