Record lows to give way to near spring-like warmth

DES MOINES (AP) — Overnight lows dipped to record levels in at least two cities early Thursday as an arctic freeze settled in over Iowa.

Many other sites recorded low temperatures of minus 20 or lower. Even more were in the minus teens, according to the National Weather Service in Johnston.

Waterloo set a record low of minus 26, breaking the old record of minus 23 set in 1904. Lamoni also set a record low of minus 13, breaking the old record there of minus 11 set in 2003.

Cedar Rapids, Clinton, Knoxville, Ottumwa and Sioux City all recorded low temperatures of minus 20 or below. Even though winds were light, when combined with the bitter cold, wind chills were pushed to minus 30 or below in many locations.

Clinton had the coldest wind chill at minus 43 at 6 a.m.

Even by late morning, temperatures remained well below zero across much of the state.

Mark Jimmerson, manager of Ultimate Towing in Urbandale, said the frigid chill was keeping him busy Thursday.

"Right now we can't even come close to being caught up, we're running about two hours behind," Jimmerson said. "We have a lot of jump starts, flooded vehicles, no starts."

The overnight low in Des Moines dipped to minus 12.

Roger Vachalek, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the bitter cold will give way to warmer weather for the weekend.

He said temperatures will warm to the upper 20s and low 30s on Friday and into the 30s on Saturday and upper 30s and 40s for Sunday and Monday. Some areas could see highs in the mid to upper 40s, Vachalek said.

But with the warmer weather comes a chance of a mixture of freezing rain and snow for Sunday and Monday, Vachalek said.

Freezing rain and snow is possible in the northwest half of Iowa, northwest of a line from Omaha, to Dubuque.

Rain is forecast for the southeast half of the state, Vachalek said.

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