The weather quickly took a turn for the worst in West Liberty last week, with nearly two feet of snow fall and temperatures dipping to nearly 40 below due to wind chill.
“As you can see conditions have continued to deteriorate,” warned Muscatine County Emergency Management/911 on Saturday during the worst of it.
Almost two feet of snow fell over the course of the week, the first half coming Tuesday, Jan. 9 and the second half falling Friday, Jan. 12.
However, the snowfall wasn’t even the worst of it. Several wind chill warnings went into effect over the weekend recording dangerously cold temperatures from 30 to 45 below zero.
Hyperthermia and frostbite became very real concerns as community members attempted to dig themselves out of snow.
“Travel is not advised on state highways,” warned the Iowa State Patrol on Saturday. “This means county and city roads are also not good. Conditions will worsen as the day goes on.”
The State Patrol, along with several other entities, advised everyone in Muscatine County, including West Liberty, to shelter in place during the frigid weather.
Most surrounding county roads and highways were shut down or declared impassable. Highway 6 From West Liberty to Atalissa closed due to two plows and multiple vehicles getting stuck.
While the weather outside was frightful, the City of West Liberty and its community members skated through mostly untarnished.
There was an uptick in emergency calls, mainly vehicles getting caught in the snow according to the West Liberty Fire and Ambulance Department. However, most of those calls were cancelled.
“Yes, the weather has caused a few more accidents than usual,” said Police Chief Josh Houser. “Thankfully there were no injuries, just some damaged vehicles.”
The worst accident occurred on Friday when a citizen rear ended a snowplow on Garfield Ave. The West Liberty Police Department had a total of 14 calls for service for accidents and motorist assists.
“I would just like to remind everyone to slow down and to give extra space for snowplows and other city crew vehicles on the road,” said Chief Houser.
Thankfully, no major power outages were reported in the city. Several emergency agencies warned there was a potential for disaster, but the electrical grid held up.
“Now that our latest storm has moved in, our electric and gas delivery teams are fully staffed should something occur,” stated Mid-American Energy on Friday, Jan. 12.
“On the electric side, we have available contract tree crews and contract line crews that we can activate as needed,” stated the company.
West Liberty’s Street Crew put in an additional 37 hours on top of their regular schedule to plow the streets inside and just outside of town.
On Friday the crew was called off due to the wind erasing their work, but they were soon back at it. In fact, several city workers, as well as Mayor Mark Smith, made meals for the team.
However, the city posted the following in response to community members getting upset about snow being plowed into their driveways as the roads were getting cleared:
“West Liberty Community Members please do not block driveways with a vehicle, objects, or yourself. The plows are not purposely covering your driveway. When you block the driveway, it creates a safety issue and difficulty for our snowplow drivers. Thank you.”
However, City Manager Lee Geertz was happy to report that even with all the extra snow plowing, city workers were still able to keep up with weekly garbage routes.
City crews have not been able to access several commercial dumpsters due to snow. The city has asked businesses to clean snow off and around their dumpsters to allow the city access.
More on the winter weather
Snowfall started light the evening of Monday, Jan. 8, but that quickly escalated overnight. By Tuesday, Jan. 9, a Winter Storm Warning had been issued for Muscatine County.
Total snow accumulations varied from 7 to 12 inches across the county by Tuesday evening, with wind gusts as high as 40 mph throughout the day leading to snow drift.
The storm system originally entered Iowa as a rainstorm coming from central and eastern Kansas, but changed over to snow by Tuesday afternoon.
A tow ban was put into place that Tuesday across eastern Iowa after most roads were completely covered in snow.
Due to dangerous whiteout conditions and numerous crashes, travel on I-80 east of Des Moines to the Illinois border was highly discouraged by the Muscatine Iowa Weather StormTeam.
“Don't take these winds and conditions lightly,” it reported on Facebook, “Power outages are popping up all over.”
Tuesday was only the opening act for what turned out to be one of Iowa’s biggest snowstorms in recent years. Winter weather returned in force just a few days later.
Before Friday, Jan. 12, a Winter Storm Warning had been already been issued for the following day, warning that the county would be hit by another round of snow.
During the day an additional 4 to 9 inches of snow fell, highest north of Highway 30, with ice accumulations. Northeast winds gusted as high as 40 mph.
It only got worse after blizzard conditions set in later that Friday, leading into Saturday, Jan. 13. Suddenly northwest winds gusted as high as 50 mph.
Due to wind chill, it became dangerously cold in the evening, with wind chills as low as 40 below zero reported in the area according to the National Weather Service.
Leading into the weekend the dangerously cold wind chills continued. It was cold enough to cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as ten minutes according to the National Weather Service.
Travel was difficult, if not next to impossible, during the snowfall due to significant wind, drifting snow, and ice that led to dangerous driving conditions and occasional whiteouts.
Arctic air remaining across the region continued to keep dangerously cold conditions across lowa. Wind chill values of -25 to -35 degrees continued through Tuesday, Jan. 16.
Milestones Area Agency on Aging was forced to close meal sites across the area several times during the week due to extreme temperatures. It serves Muscatine County.
“We closed our meal sites Friday due to the weather conditions and safety of our volunteers, employees and clients,” said Devin Hansen, Marketing & Communications Manager.
“However, we did deliver frozen meals on Thursday prior to the storm, so our home-bound clients did not go without a meal on Friday,” he added.