WINTER STORM WARNING CONTINUES UNTIL 6-P.M.
Early this morning: Snow. The snow could be heavy at times. Patchy blowing snow. Steady temperature around 30. Blustery, with a north wind 17 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total nighttime snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches possible.
Today: Snow, mainly before 11am. Patchy blowing snow before 5pm. Temperature falling to around 22 by 5pm. Wind chill values as low as 5. Windy, with a north wind 18 to 25 mph, with gusts as high as 38 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.
Tonight: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 12. Wind chill values as low as zero. Blustery, with a northwest wind 13 to 18 mph becoming west southwest 5 to 10 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 28 mph.
Wednesday: A 20 percent chance of snow after noon. Partly sunny, with a high near 28. Wind chill values as low as 5. South wind 6 to 11 mph becoming west in the afternoon.
Thursday: A 20 percent chance of snow after noon. Partly sunny, with a high near 20.
Friday: A 40 percent chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 15. Windy.
Monday’s High in Atlantic was 35. The Low was 28. As of 24-hour snowfall in Atlantic (ending at 7-a.m.), amounted to 4.6-inches. Last year on this date, the High was 48 and the Low was 21. The Record High for Jan. 9th in Atlantic, was 58 in 2002. The Record Low was -23, in 1974. Sunrise today: 7:46. Sunset: 5:08.
(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds will unveil her 2024 legislative priorities during tonight’s (Tuesday’s) “Condition of the State” address. “I’ll share some ideas that I think will continue our momentum and success,” Reynolds said, “continue to challenge the status quo and continue to empower Iowans.” Reynolds made THOSE comments Monday morning as she spoke at a Republican fundraiser. This is the 8th year Republicans will control the legislative and executive branches of state government.
“We’re not just about talk,” Reynolds said. “We’re about doing things and making a difference.” Reynolds, though, jokes that the House chamber where she’ll speak tonight (Tuesday) may not be packed.
“Might not be anybody there. I don’t know. It sounds like we’re finally going to get winter in the state of Iowa,” Reynolds said, drawing chuckles from the audience. “We’re been pretty lucky so far.” Tonight’s address is scheduled to start at six o’clock.
DES MOINES – Today (Monday), Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a disaster proclamation that authorizes the use and deployment of all available state resources, supplies, equipment, and materials to continue to assist Dallas County and the Perry Community in their response to and recovery from the tragic January 4th shooting at Perry High School.
“Through this proclamation, I am unleashing the full power of state government to help Perry High School, the Perry community, and Dallas County recover from this senseless tragedy,” said Gov. Kim Reynolds.
The Department of Public Safety, the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, and other state agencies have been supporting the community since the shooting on January 4th. The proclamation activates the emergency authorities of all state agencies, prompts enhanced coordination processes at the State Emergency Operations Center, and removes any administrative barriers to providing state resources and assistance in the days and weeks ahead.
You can view the full proclamation here.
SANDRA “SANDY” A. PEGGS, 82, of Atlantic, died Sunday, January 7, 2024, at Heritage House in Atlantic. A Celebration of Life Memorial service with a time to meet with the family of SANDY PEGGS will be held at 9:30-a.m. on May 25th, at the United Church of Christ in Atlantic, with Celebration of Life at 10:30-a.m. Roland Funeral Service is in charge of the arrangements.
During the service a special tribute will be given by the Mercy Nursing Honor Guard. Following a luncheon in the church fellowship hall, burial with military honors by the Offutt Air Force Base Honor Guard and the Atlantic Color Guard, will take place at Brighton Township Cemetery, near Marne.
Memorials may be directed to the family for later designation to the United Church of Christ.
Condolences may be left at www.rolandfuneralservice.com.
(Radio Iowa) – Seven people have now been arrested in connection to a large fight at an event center in Storm Lake on December 24th that left one man unconscious. On Sunday, Storm Lake Police arrested 22-year-old Isaiah Rivera of Cherokee after he surrendered himself to authorities. Rivera allegedly displayed a handgun during the incident and pointed it at other people inside the event center. Rivera left before police arrived that night.
Rivera has been charged with Participating in a Riot, Going Armed With Intent, and Assault While Participating in a Felony.In late December, 30-year-old Yusnavy Cruz of Storm Lake and 31-year-old Yoandri Barista Valdes of Lakeside were each arrested on a charge of Participating in a Riot. The alleged fight happened on the dance floor of the Oasis Event Center. A man was hit in the head with a chair and found unconscious.
Storm Lake Police are still trying to identify one other male suspect who was allegedly involved in the brawl.
(Radio Iowa) – The 2024 Iowa legislative session has begun with moments of silence to acknowledge the victims of last Thursday’s shooting at Perry High School — and House and Senate leaders are promising to focus on school safety.
No bills have been proposed at this point, but House Speaker Pat Grassley provided an outline of school safety measures Republicans support. “It means investing in school security. It means prioritizing school resources officers. It means protecting children’s mental health. It means teaching resilience over victimhood,” Grassley said, “and it means ridding our classrooms and school libraries of inappropriate material.”
Grassley cited the underlying reason for a response. “People choose Iowa because our state is viewed as safe,” Grassley said, “so when we see these senseless acts of violence in our own home state, it shakes us to the core.”
House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst also issued a general call for action. “People at the end of this session should feel safer taking their kids to school in the morning than they do today. That’s our job,” Konfrst said. “Let’s work together to get something done.”
Konfrst said people are scared to be in public places. “It’s not enough to just move on,” Konfrst said. “Ahmir deserves better and so do all of our kids.”
The funeral for 11 year old Ahmir Jolliff — the 6th grader who was shot to death last Thursday — is scheduled for Thursday of this week Perry. Senate Democratic Leader Pam Jochum daughter died in 2018 and she said there is “no pain” like the loss of a child. “In our grief, though, we must ask tough questions and acknowledge hard truths,” Jochum said. “How do we tame violence in our country, violence that touched East High School in Des Moines less than two years ago and now Perry?”
Jochum said gun safety must be part of the discussion. “We must find a solution to gun violence,” Jochum said. “No child should go to school fearing for their lives.”
Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver promised action on school safety in general, but shared no specifics. “While we can’t legislate away evil and get rid of all the bad things in this world, we keep our thoughts and prayers with those in Perry as we move forward and put in place policies to make our state better and stronger,” Whitver said.
Whitver singled out the gravely wounded Perry High School principal who tried to stop the 17-year-old shooting suspect, giving other students time to escape.”It is a remarkable demonstration of courage and self-sacrifice,” Whitver said. “Being a servant leader is easy to talk about, but in moments like these it is hard to do. It shows how leaders act in times of crisis. It shows how Iowans act to protect and defend each other.”
The lawmakers made their remarks during opening day speeches in the House and Senate. A couple of hours before the legislature convened, Governor Reynolds spoke about Perry during remarks at an Iowa GOP fundraiser. Reynolds said all Iowans stand with the victims and the Perry community during this time of grieving and recovery.
“Our hearts remain heavy with the unthinkable and senseless tragedy that unfolded last week at the Perry High School and we continue evert dat to keep the families of the victims and the Perry community in our prayers,” Reynolds says. “…We’ll continue to work with the community to make sure they have the whole of government behind them as they work through this heartbreaking time in our state’s history.”
(Radio Iowa) – After three consecutive winters dominated by the La Nina weather pattern, we’re now a few weeks into an El Nino winter, which state climatologist Justin Glisan says could very well mean significant changes ahead for Iowa’s weather. “We’re in a moderate-to-strong El Nino and we have a 54% chance of this being a historically strong El Nino, meaning, exceedingly warm sea surface temperature anomalies,” Glisan says. “When we look at wintertime conditions for El Nino, we typically see warmer temperatures through December, January, February.”
That falls in line with what happened in Iowa last month, as snowfall during December was far below normal in what’s usually the snowiest month of the year. Plus, Glisan says, December concluded nine-degrees warmer than average statewide. The last El Nino was in 2019 and Glisan says there’s a consistent pattern over the decades. “If we look back at strong El Nino events, going back to 1950, we’ve had seven,” Glisan says. “Six of those, we’ve seen generally wetter conditions across the state.”
Iowa has been mired in drought for more than three-and-a-half years, and Glisan says we experienced what he calls a “snow drought” during December, while a shift could be coming in the weeks ahead. “In El Nino and strong El Ninos, we generally see below-average snowfall across much of the state, but not necessarily drier conditions,” Glisan says. “We see more rainfall, we see more wintry mix-type of precipitations. So if you couple that together with the 30-year trend, there is a potential for wetter conditions through winter along with those warmer temperatures.”
From year to year, Glisan says the average temperature over 365 days usually doesn’t even vary by one degree, up or down, but 2023 ended more than two-degrees warmer than the norm in Iowa, putting it in the state’s top 20 warmest years on record.