Cold in Iowa, January 9 to 11, 1997

A major blast of Arctic air roared into the state during the afternoon and evening of the 9th creating blizzard conditions over much of the northwest half of Iowa. Low pressure moved north, passing to the east of Iowa as a massive Arctic high pressure center moved from Alaska into the northern Rockies. Snowfall was on the light side with accumulations in the one to two inch range. Gusty northwest winds of 25 to 40 MPH with occasional gusts of 50 to 55 MPH buffetted the state for 36 hours. The highest wind reported in the state came from Estherville, where a 70 MPH gust was recorded at 0700 CST on the 10th. The winds whipped up the newly fallen snow reducing visibility to a few feet over parts of northwest Iowa. Visibilities were rarely greater than one quarter mile in open areas. Further to the southeast, conditions were not as bad, however the blowing snow did cause travel problems. Many roads were closed over the northwest half of the state with cars becoming stranded in the snow drifts. Most schools and many businesses were closed on the 10th due to the blizzard conditons. Along with the winds and blowing snow came rapidly falling temperatures. Readings fell below zero by sunrise on the 10th over a large part of the state. Coupled with the strong northwest winds, wind chill indices were between 40 and 70 below zero over all of the state. Wind chill indices remained in the 40 to 60 below zero range into the morning of the 11th before winds finally slackened off. Temperatures dropped further during the night of the 11th and morning of the 12th however. This kept wind chill values in the 40 to 55 below zero range off and on through the mid day hours of the 12th. Though quite extreme, the situation was not the threat to life of the previous day.