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It was on this date — Oct. 19 — in 2020 that a snow squall dropped nearly 1o inches of snow on some areas of Iowa. Forecasters initially said central Iowa could expect an inch or so of snow in the early-season storm. Instead, it developed into an intense snow squall that left Johnston and Polk City buried under 9 inches of snow. Ankeny and Guthrie Center reported about 8 inches, Grimes had about 6, while only about an inch of snow fell at the Des Moines International Airport. Interactive Radar | Weather AlertsDownload the ����vlog appWhat is a snow squall? A snow squall is an intense, short burst of heavy snowfall that can cause sudden whiteouts and gusty winds.The heavy snow on Oct. 18, 2020, prompted the National Weather Service to issue a Snow Squall Warning — the first of its kind in central Iowa. The weather service decided in 2018 that snow squalls were a serious enough threat to merit emergency alerts like those for tornadoes and flash floods, according to the Associated Press. The service’s parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, announced in January 2018 that it was introducing squall alerts, mainly to help prevent large highway pileups. Iowa State Patrol officials said they responded to more than 30 crashes during the October 2020 storm and assisted another two dozen drivers. Ankeny police were called to more than a dozen crashes.Looking ahead at winter 2023: Here's what El Niño means for winter in IowaWATCH: October snow squall makes for slippery central Iowa roadsThe decision to start issuing squall alerts was based on improved short-term forecasting technology and a realization that the traditional winter storm watch and warning system was missing these events.“Historically, winter storm warning criteria is based on how much snow falls,” said Heather Reeves, a research scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies in Norman, Oklahoma. “Squalls are short-lived storms that may produce just a dusting of snow but are really dangerous because they arrive suddenly and cause whiteout conditions.”One of Iowa's earliest significant snowfallsAccording to the National Weather Service, the earliest significant snowfall in Iowa’s history prior to the October 2020 storm was Nov. 10, 1968.WATCH: Snow squall creates dangerous commute homeWATCH: Conditions change very fast as squall hits