NWS graphic shows where the snow hit in 1997.
There’s no snow in the forecast just yet, but 19 years ago on this date, many Iowans were digging out from one of the heaviest October snowfalls in the state’s history.
The major winter storm spread across much of southern and central Iowa on October 26, 1997. National Weather Service records show the heaviest snowfall accumulations included 11.3 inches at Knoxville in Marion County and 13 inches southwest of Mineola in Pottawattamie County.
Tens of thousands of homes and businesses lost electricity as snow laden trees fell onto power lines.
On this morning 19 years ago, temperatures plummeted to just 9 degrees above zero in Atlantic and Guthrie Center — the coldest Iowa temperature recorded so early in the season since 1972.