Bitter cold, wind and 2 more inches of snow combined to force school closures and activity cancellations across the Carroll area today.
Roads were open this morning, but gusts over 30 mph were reducing visibility in rural areas.
Light snow fell from 5 Tuesday night until 1 this morning then resumed at 4 a.m. Little new accumulation was expected the rest of today, however.
IKM-Manning was the only school district in the Carroll area holding classes today, and they weren't even delayed. Most school districts in surrounding counties were closed.
Carroll's high temperature for the day was recorded at 1 a.m. The mercury had been falling from 12 degrees since.
The plunge was expected to reach 5 below by suppertime and bottom out around 17 below overnight. Wind chills should reach dangerous levels, around 30 below.
Clear skies and fresh snow cover will allow for quick loss of radiant heat, and the wind will only make it feel colder, the National Weather Service says in its forecast discussion for most of Iowa.
"Expect readings to drop to the lowest levels in quite a few years," said Mindy Albrect, forecaster at the NWS Weather Forecast Office in Johnston.
Wind and cold were making today's forecast tricky, Albrecht said. A large area of low pressure was moving southeast, dragging arctic air, with winds picking up as the system tracks away.
The northeastern two-thirds of the state was under a wind-chill warning from 9 this morning to noon Thursday.
With arctic air entrenched, Thursday's not expected to be much better, with a high of minus 3 and a low around 10 below.
The normal high for this week in January in Carroll, according to Weather Service archives, is 27 degrees while the normal low is 7. A year ago today the high was 28 and the low was 9 with no snowfall.
It appears today's record low isn't in danger of falling. The mercury dipped to 22 below in 1912. The record high is 60 set in 1990.
Relief from the deep freeze is in sight. Although there's a chance of snow Friday the high should reach the 20s, and the forecast for the weekend through Tuesday calls for sun and 30s.
