More March snow on the way, National Weather Service says: 1-3 inches forecast

This article has been updated to reflect the latest National Weather Service forecast.

Mean old March just won't give up.

Despite a Saturday high in the upper 50s, the National Weather Service is forecasting 1 to 3 inches of snow, and possibly more, early Sunday in a narrow band of Iowa counties that extends from Council Bluffs to just west of Cedar Rapids and includes the Des Moines and Ames metros.

Most of the snow should fall within the 75 miles between U.S. 30 on the north and U.S. 34 on the south, the weather service says. In Des Moines, expect it to start after 5 a.m. and continue through midday, becoming heavy at times but also possibly mixing with rain as the temperature climbs to a high in the low 40s. Wind gusts could reach 20 mph.

At least with temperatures in the mid-to-upper 40s in the coming week, the snow won't stick around for long.

It would be the second sizable snowfall this month, and well beyond the norm. A March 11 storm forecast to bring light snow instead dumped 6.4 inches, a record for the date. Normal for March is 3.9 inches.

So far this season, Des Moines has received 32.7 inches of snow, according to weather service records. The annual average is 34.6 inches.

And there's still April to come. Fifty years ago, from April 8-10, 1973, Des Moines was inundated with more than a foot of snow, enough to paralyze a city accustomed to the white stuff.