(Atlantic) According to the National Weather Service in Des Moines, the 24-below zero overnight low is the second-lowest on record. The temperature plummeted to -27 below zero following the sunrise on Tuesday morning.
The overnight low recorded in the Atlantic area is certainly one of the coldest on record, but believe it or not it’s not a record. Cory Martin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Des Moines, says the record low dating back to 1893 occurred in the late 1950s.”It’s certainly at the top of the list for coldest temperatures observed in the Atlantic area,” said Martin. “However, there’s one fateful night on February 16, 1958, when the temperature dropped to 33-below zero.
“This cold snap is caused by an arctic air-mass that has been dislodged to the south which has been encompassing a good chunk of the United States, especially the central tier of states,” said Martin. “As many of you have probably seen the reports of snowfall as far south as Texas with this weather pattern. This is a highly unusual period of bitterly cold air for this duration.”
Martin says the good news is, the temperature will start a slow climb out of the deep freeze heading into the weekend. “As we get closer to the weekend it looks like we’re going to be closer to the average for this time of year, which will feel balmy compared to what we’ve had to deal with the past couple of weeks,” said Martin. “We may see another system sweep across the region early next week, but at this point, it doesn’t look quite as cold as we’ve seen the past couple of weeks. But at this point, and the chance for precipitation aren’t quite as clear. But, hopefully, we’ll be swinging back to more normal temperatures for this time of year.”
The wind chill warning for western Iowa is forecast to expire at 10:00 a.m.
