After a February that was one of the coldest and snowiest in Iowa history, March is starting off much the same way as more record cold is gripping the state and more snow will soon be falling. Several Iowa cities report record or near-record low temperatures this morning (Monday), according to meteorologist Brad Fillbach, at the National Weather Service. “In our area that we cover, we had five new record lows,” Fillbach says. “Des Moines was 7-below, Waterloo 19-below, Ottumwa was 9-below, Lamoni 8-below and Mason City 15-below.”

Atlantic broke two consecutive days of record low temperatures today and Sunday. For the 24-hour reporting period that ended today at 7-a.m., the low in Atlantic for March 2nd was -12. That broke the old record of -11 set on that date in 1913. The record low for today, March 3rd, was also broken at 7-a.m., when we recorded a temperature of -11. That broke the record set on this date in 2002.

For the month of February, the average High in Atlantic was 25.1 degrees, which was 10-degrees below normal. The average Low was -1, which was 16 degrees below normal. Precipitation for the month amounted to just under an inch, at 0.93, which is near normal. The normal, average High for the month of February is 35.4, with the normal average Low 15.2.  Precipitation is normally .96.  KJAN is the OFFICIAL National Weather Service reporting site for Atlantic.

Fillbach says some of the low temperature records that were shattered across the State go back decades — and more. “The one that goes the furthest back is for Des Moines,” Fillbach says. “The previous record low was 6-below and that occurred way back in 1884.”

There’s the possibility for snow across a wide section of Iowa midweek, but little accumulation is expected. He says the bitter cold should eventually lessen. “Looking at the forecast for this week, the next few days are going to be cold but we’re going to have a gradual warm-up by mid-week,” Fillbach says. “We could see 30 degrees and possibly even 40 by the end of the week.” At least according to the calendar, spring will arrive in 17 days — on March 20th.

(Radio Iowa/KJAN)