Extreme Cold in Iowa, December 21 to 22, 2000

Name: Extreme Cold in Iowa, December 21 to 22, 2000
Start: 2000-12-21T04:00
End: 2000-12-22T03:00
Location: Iowa

December 21 to 22, 2000 · NWS DVN · 21 events in 21 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 21 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 21

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS DVN wrote it up.

Low pressure over the Great Lakes region moved to the east through the day. A strong northwest wind on the back side of the low brought bitterly cold Arctic air into the region, which produced dangerously cold wind chills as well as blowing and drifting snow. High temperatures during the day ranged from the single digits below to above zero, and combined with winds gusting up to 40 miles per hour to produce wind chills as low as 40 to 50 below zero. The winds also created widespread blowing and drifting snow, in the wake of a system that brought several inches of snow to the area on December 20th. Area hospitals treated numerous patients for frostbite, falls, chest pains from shoveling snow, and snow blower injures. Law enforcement reported numerous accidents and vehicles in ditches. Many county roads were closed, or reduced to one lane, by drifting snow. The weather prompted the closing of many area schools. The harsh conditions continued overnight into the early morning hours of December 22nd. Actual temperatures across the area dropped to 5 to 10 below zero, with wind chills from 40 to 50 below, before the wind diminished in the pre-dawn hours.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

21 extreme cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Benton

When: December 21, 4:00 AM CST to December 22, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Benton forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 42.080, -92.066 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Buchanan

When: December 21, 4:00 AM CST to December 22, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Buchanan forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 42.471, -91.838 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Cedar

When: December 21, 4:00 AM CST to December 22, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Cedar forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 41.772, -91.132 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Clinton

When: December 21, 4:00 AM CST to December 22, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Clinton forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 41.898, -90.532 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Delaware

When: December 21, 4:00 AM CST to December 22, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Delaware forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 42.471, -91.367 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Des Moines

When: December 21, 4:00 AM CST to December 22, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Des Moines forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 40.923, -91.181 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Dubuque

When: December 21, 4:00 AM CST to December 22, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Dubuque forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 42.469, -90.882 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Henry

When: December 21, 4:00 AM CST to December 22, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Henry forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 40.988, -91.544 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Iowa

When: December 21, 4:00 AM CST to December 22, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Iowa forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 41.686, -92.065 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Jackson

When: December 21, 4:00 AM CST to December 22, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Jackson forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 42.172, -90.574 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Jefferson

When: December 21, 4:00 AM CST to December 22, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Jefferson forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 41.032, -91.949 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Johnson

When: December 21, 4:00 AM CST to December 22, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Johnson forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 41.672, -91.588 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Jones

When: December 21, 4:00 AM CST to December 22, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Jones forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 42.121, -91.131 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Keokuk

When: December 21, 4:00 AM CST to December 22, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Keokuk forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 41.337, -92.179 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Lee

When: December 21, 4:00 AM CST to December 22, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Lee forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 40.642, -91.479 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Linn

When: December 21, 4:00 AM CST to December 22, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Linn forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 42.079, -91.599 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Louisa

When: December 21, 4:00 AM CST to December 22, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Louisa forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 41.219, -91.260 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Muscatine

When: December 21, 4:00 AM CST to December 22, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Muscatine forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 41.484, -91.113 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Scott

When: December 21, 4:00 AM CST to December 22, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Scott forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 41.637, -90.623 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Van Buren

When: December 21, 4:00 AM CST to December 22, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Van Buren forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 40.753, -91.950 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Washington

When: December 21, 4:00 AM CST to December 22, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Washington forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 41.336, -91.718 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill: Temperatures or wind chills at or below the local warning criteria, or cold that caused deaths.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Iowa in 2000 Every state in 2000 This day in weather history Warnings in Iowa, December 2000

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5177378, 5177379, 5177380, 5177381, 5177382, 5177383, 5177384, 5177470, 5177471, 5177472, 5177473, 5177474, 5177475, 5177476, 5177477, 5177478, 5177479, 5177480, 5177481, 5177482, 5177483.