Brr! Four Iowa cities set new record lows this morning
October 18th, 2022 by Ric Hanson
(Radio Iowa)/KJAN) – It’ll be one of those weeks in Iowa where our attire may include both winter coats and shorts. This (Tuesday) morning, some communities experienced lows in the low 20s and wind chills below zero. Meteorologist Ashley Bury, at the National Weather Service in Johnston, says four Iowa cities had record low temperatures early today. “We had 21 degrees at the Des Moines airport, which beat 22 degrees that we had in 1972,” Bury says. “At Lamoni, it was also 22 and Ottumwa was 22, which beat the records in 1972 when their lows were also 23. So just a degree lower for those three sites, but that did break our record today.”
In Atlantic, the 24-hour Low ending at 7-a.m. was not a record breaker, but after 7-a.m., we dropped to 16 degrees, and that broke the old record for Oct. 18th, which was 17 degrees, set in 1952. The forecast is calling for an overnight Low of around 15, so the record Low statistic may change again. Webster City broke a 70-year-old record this morning with 16 degrees, besting a record of 18 set on this date in 1952. If we can endure a little more cold, Bury says warmer weather is coming. “Another chilly night tonight, mainly in the low 20s again, maybe some upper teens, no records look like they’re going to be broken though,” she says, “but after that, we’re going to see some highs back in the 50s and even by the end of the week, Friday into the weekend, we’re going to see temperatures even in the 70s, so it’s gonna be nice and warm for October.”
While today’s highs are mostly in the low 40s, highs by Saturday may be near 80.