After a February that was one of the coldest and snowiest in Iowa history, March is starting off much the same way as more record cold is gripping the state and more snow will soon be falling.
Several Iowa cities report record or near-record low temperatures this morning, according to meteorologist Brad Fillbach, at the National Weather Service. “In our area that we cover, we had five new record lows,” Fillbach says. “Des Moines was 7-below, Waterloo 19-below, Ottumwa was 9-below, Lamoni 8-below and Mason City 15-below.”
He says some of the low temperature records that were shattered go back decades — and more. “The one that goes the furthest back is for Des Moines,” Fillbach says. “The previous record low was 6-below and that occurred way back in 1884.” There’s the possibility for snow across a wide section of Iowa midweek, but little accumulation is expected.
He says the bitter cold should eventually ease. “Looking at the forecast for this week, the next few days are going to be cold but we’re going to have a gradual warm-up by mid-week,” Fillbach says. “We could see 30 degrees and possibly even 40 by the end of the week.” At least according to the calendar, spring will arrive in 17 days — on March 20th.