Ice Storm of 1990

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Trice

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Apr 1, 2010
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With the coronavirus pandemic and the possibility of extended time at home, I realized it's been almost exactly 30 years since the ice storm that knocked out power and shut things down for days. That's the closest example I could think of to what the next few weeks might be like if schools end up being canceled.

I think at my house it was about 4-5 days without power. No school the entire week, no hot showers, no Nintendo, no TV...probably a blessing the internet wasn't a thing yet. Daylight Saving Time didn't start until April then so it was still dark fairly early. After a few days we finally gave up and found a hotel with power, only to come home the next morning with power restored.

What I forgot about the period was the weather pattern around then included a tornado outbreak.

Haven't been able to find much about it, but I did find this:
 

Trice

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Apr 1, 2010
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How did you pass the time? Read a book? Bate? Actually talk to people? Tell me more.

I remember spending a lot of time at a friend's house then, listening to the radio. They must have had a lot of spare batteries. Playing cards and board games. Honestly I don't remember but it had to have been hell, particularly for my parents.
 
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WhoISthis

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Oct 6, 2010
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Damn 30 years already. I was young then.

Different times, so different it’s hard to fathom. Used a lot of crappy flashlights and even the fireplace in order to save the generator from running 24/7
 

Cdiedrick

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Jun 26, 2014
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With the coronavirus pandemic and the possibility of extended time at home, I realized it's been almost exactly 30 years since the ice storm that knocked out power and shut things down for days. That's the closest example I could think of to what the next few weeks might be like if schools end up being canceled.

I think at my house it was about 4-5 days without power. No school the entire week, no hot showers, no Nintendo, no TV...probably a blessing the internet wasn't a thing yet. Daylight Saving Time didn't start until April then so it was still dark fairly early. After a few days we finally gave up and found a hotel with power, only to come home the next morning with power restored.

What I forgot about the period was the weather pattern around then included a tornado outbreak.

Haven't been able to find much about it, but I did find this:

Where did you live? I was 10 and living in Humboldt. I recall the news making a big deal about it and we just had school cancelled for a day‍♂️
 

Trice

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Apr 1, 2010
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Where did you live? I was 10 and living in Humboldt. I recall the news making a big deal about it and we just had school cancelled for a day‍♂️

Central Iowa. You raise an interesting point because I don't remember, if I ever knew, exactly who was affected and how badly. Central Iowa got killed.
 
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CYdTracked

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Mar 23, 2006
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Grimes, IA
I remember camping out in the family room to stay warm where our wood stove was. Listened to the radio, played games, cooked various things on top of the wood stove like a frozen pizza for meals. Loved out in the country so not like we had much of an option to go anywhere when everything was a sheet of ice.
 
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CYCLNST8

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Jul 19, 2008
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Urbandale
www.gimikk.com
There was an ice storm that hit NW Iowa on Halloween night around ‘91? That knocked down a lot of major power lines. Oddly enough, somehow Rockwell City was spared of any power outages while every surrounding town was without power for days. As kids, we loved it. A lot of time was spent playing outside and board games by candlelight.
 

theshadow

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Apr 19, 2006
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There was an ice storm that hit NW Iowa on Halloween night around ‘91?

They had to move some Iowa HS playoff games to the DakotaDome in Vermillion, because there were no playable fields anywhere in that region.
 

AuH2O

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Sep 7, 2013
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They had to move some Iowa HS playoff games to the DakotaDome in Vermillion, because there were no playable fields anywhere in that region.
Can't remember if that one was ice or snow but every game after the first round was played at UNI for most teams in 1991.
 

Angie

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We were in Boone County living on a farm at the time, I was in elementary. We camped out around a kerosene heater in the living room at night (luckily no fire), and went to some friends' house that had a fireplace during the day. I think we were without power for three or four days.
 

theshadow

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Apr 19, 2006
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Can't remember if that one was ice or snow but every game after the first round was played at UNI for most teams in 1991.

It was a cluster.

Of the 20 quarterfinal games, UNI hosted seven, USD hosted four, and ISU even had one. Seven teams actually got to play at home (Wahlert, Newton, Bettendorf, Creston, Pella, Sigourney, Treynor), and there was another at a neutral high school (Olin vs Madrid, at Tama).

Eight of the 10 semis were at UNI, and the other two were at USD. (This was seven years before UNI became the "permanent" semifinal host.)
 
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aauummm

March is National Celery Month
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I remember it well. Lived on the west side of Des Moines. It was pitch dark outside at night, no street lights, front porch lights or lights in windows. So I took our Coleman gas camping lantern, fired it up and put it in the front yard just for the heck of it. We had two fireplaces, one had a fireplace insert, and a huge supply of firewood. Kept us warm.

We were avid campers so we had all of the camping utensils and equipment needed for cooking, etc. I had the old style (they call them vintage now) Coleman equipment that ran on Coleman gas (white gas) that you bought by the gallon. I had plenty of that on hand. I thought it was a lot of fun.

Had no damage from falling trees or branches so that was a good thing.

Coleman gas lantern-vintage .jpg
 

CyHans

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Apr 28, 2010
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I was thinking about the floods of ‘93 as well yesterday.
I honestly don't remember being affected for days by an ice storm. Possibly because where I live the power lines are underground. But I do remember the flood and our office being closed for a week or so and we got a paid week off. The weather was beautiful so I did a lot of Ragbrai training. My sump ran constantly and the water was crystal clear so I spent my time collecting it in 5 gal buckets and used it to flush toilets and do laundry. Even heated it up to bathe.