It's a lot different for a place that is accustomed to such extreme colds, -40 would not be out of the ordinary in Alaska I assume? But for Iowa, where it doesn't get this cold for 12+ year stretches it's a big deal.
Too cold for school?
- Thread starter anticyclonic
- Start date
The state of Iowa falls within a temperature gradient that subjects us to colder weather in winter than other states at our same latitude (excluding high elevation locals in Utah or Colorado) so we do get cold- colder than areas at the same latitude in Illinois, Indiana, or Ohio. In fact, this is the 3rd winter in a row that we have had a location or two in Iowa get colder than 20 below and a good part of the state in the teens below zero. It is pretty common and getting more that way. The stretch in Jan/Feb 1996 was about the coldest I remember. It was kind of like the opposite of the four 105 degree days we had in a row in August 1988.
i walked 2 blocks outside this morning because I forgot my badge and couldn't take the tunnels from my ramp to my building. My ears were burning. I'd never want to subject my children to this. One day in the life of their education certainly isn't worth the risk that this kind of cold introduces.
Per the ticker last night (scroll on bottom of screen channels 5, 8 & 13) almost all the small schools were going to be open today just a two hour delay, handful were closed. I can understand small rural schools being closed, but it appears they weren't going to be, it was business as usual, just a delay. Tonight, the ticker didn't really show any school to be closed just a delay, so I am guessing the many of the suburban superintendents realized they could have been open after all. I think the low tomorrow morning might be even colder since it is already colder than last night at this time in several areas, tomorrow afternoon is supposed to be warmer and we are finally out of the deep freeze. My truck will like that.
I found the 1996 info. In DSM it was below zero from late afternoon Wed, Jan 30 to late morning Sun, Feb 4 for a total of 113 hours-almost 5 full days! Elkader tied the record state low during that period at -47.
That is fairly cold for our guys from Texas.
On thing that people might not realize is the diesel fuel for the boxes might gunk up and the buses are difficult to keep warm for the kids. Give the kids a break.
