WINTER STORM WARNING now in effect from 9PM Thursday-10AM Friday. BLIZZARD WARNING will replace the Winter Storm Warning starting at 10AM Friday to 6AM Saturday. All counties in Central Iowa included!
On Monday I let Luke stay home from school in the morning to help pull the motor out of the Dodge Dually. The plan was for him to go back after lunch. Due to the weather coming in, his school was letting out early, so he skipped the whole day. He probably learned more working on his motor anyway. The snow came in late afternoon and schools were cancelled for Tuesday. Wednesday started as a two hour late start and Luke had a dentist and orthodontist appointment in Ames. We took all gravel to highway 30 and it was 70% ice covered. I was not liking the roads and questioning my decision. I later learned that the surrounding schools including Ogden closed school. We saw 13 cars in the ditch on 30 from the day before. Once we were a few miles from Ames, the roads were all clear. Thursday was a normal day of school and then winter weather was coming once again. School was cancelled for Friday and the blizzard conditions started early in the morning. We have gotten snow upon snow and now wind with temperatures dropping all week and lingering in the negatives. It was a wicked day with strong winds Friday. I was fortunate to stay indoors all day. I let the guys do the chores. Saturday I ventured out to see the snow and check the animals. I dressed in lots of layers and even had goggles. The winds came up and got stronger through the day. Mark started moving snow in the morning, but as the winds picked up, he had to come home. Luke was at the shop and went to drive to his grandparents up the road for lunch and got stuck in their driveway. Jake was out and about and got his truck struck too. My hens power cord came undone in the wind and they were in the coop with a snow drift, frozen water, and snow all over them. They probably would not have made it through the night. Jake was home and convinced me to get them safely into a stall. The wind hurt your face, made your nostrils and eyelashes freeze. After I got the hens in a stall, I went to check on the horses. Luke threw a bale of hay into the feeders for both horses. The west pen was full of untouched hay. I climbed the fence and went into the 3 sided shed. I felt so bad when I saw the two horses. I could tell their pen had been snowed into probably all day yesterday. They were snowy and shivering. I moved their hay into the shed so they would eat. Mark kept telling me they would be fine. I couldn't sleep well worrying about them as the temperatures fell and the wind picked up. It wasn't forecasted to be the worst, but I think Saturday night was the worst night of the storm. Sunday was super cold with some wind. I had Jake help me again in the morning, we caught horses and took Joker and Bucky to a stall. I felt so bad, they had frosty faces and ice on their eyelashes. The shop was cold, but much warmer than the frigid outdoor air. The wind was enough to cause more drifting and Jake got stuck again, this time with his Tahoe. Monday morning Luke helped me move the two horses back into their pen. It was still plenty cold single digit temps, but the wind was no longer an issues. Just being in a stall for 24hours, Joker was bucking and running all over once released into his pen. After a few days of not seeing Walter the grey kitty, I went in search for him. He had been snowed in a little cat shed in the hay barn. The hay barn was floor to roof snow covered with drifts. I had never seen so much snow in there. We freed Walter and he was one happy cat. I wish we had prepared the animals better in this storm! I really had my hands full and needed some extra help.
*****With the most recent winter storm, which brought blizzard conditions to the state on Friday and Saturday, Des Moines International Airport received 10.5" of snow. That amount of snow is in addition to the 12.4" of snow that fell earlier in the week on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Over the course of six days, Des Moines received 22.9" of snow, which is more than half of the city's winter average. The significant rounds of snow were accompanied by gusty winds and dangerous cold. On Friday and Saturday, wind gusts reached 40 to 50 mph across Iowa. Severe cold is also causing issues as wind chills dip to the -30s and -40s, and there won't be much, if any, improvement until Tuesday or Wednesday.
*****With the most recent winter storm, which brought blizzard conditions to the state on Friday and Saturday, Des Moines International Airport received 10.5" of snow. That amount of snow is in addition to the 12.4" of snow that fell earlier in the week on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Over the course of six days, Des Moines received 22.9" of snow, which is more than half of the city's winter average. The significant rounds of snow were accompanied by gusty winds and dangerous cold. On Friday and Saturday, wind gusts reached 40 to 50 mph across Iowa. Severe cold is also causing issues as wind chills dip to the -30s and -40s, and there won't be much, if any, improvement until Tuesday or Wednesday.
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