(Ames) Iowa’s record snowfall last month cost the state more than 10 million dollars. The Iowa Department of Transportation says crews worked 140 thousand hours fighting the weather between January 8th and 17th, costing the state 4 million dollars in labor costs alone. The DOT says winter had been mild until those storms, so they will not have to ask the legislature for more money.
January 2024 was the third warmest December on record at .9.7 degrees above average. State Climatologist Justin Glisan says sandwiched between warmer-than-normal temperatures at the beginning and end of the month were bitterly cold temperatures and two low-pressure systems bringing widespread snowfall across the state.
Glisan says the snowfall average was 17.6 inches across the state, nine inches above average for January. Glisan says this ties 1929 as Iowa’s third snowiest January on record.
(DOT Photo)
