Extreme Cold/Wind Chill — Worth, Iowa

2022-12-22 to 2022-12-24 · Worth, Iowa

Wider weather episode

A large winter system impacted Iowa and much of the Midwest in the days leading up to Christmas 2022. Snow began to fall across Iowa on the 21st and lasted through the morning of the 22nd, blanketing most of the state in a widespread depth of two to four inches. At the same time, temperature began to plummet with wind chills across the area dropping into the minus 30s and minus 40s by the morning of the 22nd. As the system began to shift east the tight pressure gradient and strong cold air advection allowed winds to increase, gusting to over 40 mph in many locations by the 23rd. A few places even recorded wind gusts of 50 to 58 mph. The strong winds and fresh snow resulted in blizzard conditions across portions of central and all of northern Iowa on the 23rd with visibility near zero. Winds gradually eased overnight with significant improvement to visibility by Christmas Eve morning. Conditions significantly impacted holiday travel with dozens of car accidents reported and a closure of interstate 35. This was a historic event. While extreme cold occurs with regularity in Iowa, the duration of this arctic outbreak set this event apart. The combination with blizzard conditions resulted in especially dangerous conditions putting anyone stranded at severe risk.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1067995. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.