2 weeks Ago
SIOUX CITY — Old Man Winter went out with a bang Wednesday as the final day before spring produced more than five inches of snow and winds gusting up to 55 miles per hour. Interstate 29 from Sioux City to Missouri Valley shut down, thousands of homes lost power and schools and some businesses closed as the heavy snow and whiteout-like conditions left large swaths of the region paralyzed. Conditions in Northwest Iowa were severe enough that the Iowa Department of Transportation had to close Interstate 29 from Sergeant Bluff to Missouri Valley and MidAmerican Energy reported thousands upon thousands of customer outages.
In Sioux City, residents inundated officials with calls about downed trees and branches in, while police warned motorists to stay off the roads because officers were tied up with responding to cars in ditches and crashes throughout town. The March blizzard hit just two days after temperatures climbed to as high of 81 degrees on Monday. The snow won't stick around long either, with highs expected to reach into the 40s Thursday and the 50s later in the week.
Adding to the unusualness of the last-minute winter blast, thundersnow -- a somewhat unusual sort of thunderstorm that occurs during a snowstorm -- was reported in multiple Northwest Iowa counties Wednesday morning. Kyle Weisser, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls, said thundersnow was reported in parts of Woodbury, Ida and Buena Vista counties as lightning was detected on NWS equipment. "It's just a system that has instability, like a day we would have with some scattered showers and storms, it just happens to be associated with a band of snow in this case," Weisser said.
Five inches of snow was recorded in Sioux City. The snowstorm moved to the east and weakened at around noon. Snow totals varied widely across the area.
Holstein, Iowa, and Ruthven, Iowa, both received 7 inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service. Remsen got 3.2 inches.
Primghar received only a half-inch. Spencer got 2 inches. Concord, Neb.
, received 1.2 inches. Wednesday's snowfall fell somewhat short of the March 19 snowfall record in Sioux City: On March 19, 1970, 5.
4 inches of snow was recorded. The closure of Interstate 29 came in around 10:11 a.m.
and was still in effect through 3:40 p.m., Wednesday.
The Iowa Department of Transportation's reasoning was that there was low visibility (of less than a mile), stranded vehicles and downed power lines across the road. With the closure, southbound I-29 travelers were told to seek shelter in Sioux City and that they could park at parking lots at the Seaboard Triumph Foods Expo Center, Sam's Club and Long Lines Family Center. Other major blockages reported by Iowa DOT Wednesday morning included Iowa Highway 10 from County Road N28 to County Road C26 (Laurens) and U.
S. 20 eastbound at the Gordon Drive exit. No travel advisories also included IA-3 from Akron to Le Mars to Cherokee to Storm Lake.
Even before it reached noon Wednesday, Sioux City Community Policing Sgt. Tom Gill said there were reports of seven vehicles in ditches and officers had responded to six crashes. Patrick Simons, supervisor for the city's Field Services Department, said plows went out at 5 a.
m. Wednesday and treating roads where necessary, but the snow was trickier to deal with than what came from the blizzard earlier this month. "The snow was a lot more wet and heavy, a little more difficult to control and manage where that snow cast is going," he said.
(Around 12:02 p.m., Ida, Monona and Sac counties actually had to take plows off the roads because of deteriorating visibility.
) Simons did note though that city plows were able to maintain the priority one streets while the snow was still falling and then transitioned to priority two streets once it tapered off in the early afternoon. "Our staff is continuing to work 24 hours a day," he said. Snowmelt was fast enough in some spots to help with road clearing, but it wasn't so fast that residents should be worried about any overload.
Sioux City Utilities Director Brad Puetz told The Journal that snow melting beginning Thursday is not expected to inundate the municipal storm system. "This is very different from a very hard and fast 1-2" rain where it all runs to the story system at a very rapid pace," he said via email. While drainage issues weren't a major concern, vents were.
Woodbury County Emergency Management urged residents to check outdoor vents for their homes to "prevent dangerous blockages that could lead to carbon monoxide buildup or heating system malfunctions." Tree limbs partially block Vine Avenue near South Helen Street Wednesday, March 19, 2025, in Sioux City's Morningside neighborhood. Wet, heavy snow, whipped by high winds began falling in the city early Wednesday and is expected to end that afternoon with accumulations of about five-inches.
Tim Hynds, Sioux City Journal Through 4 p.m., the extended Sioux City metro had more than 7,000 outages with the greatest numbers coming from Odebolt (643), Sloan (578) and rural Woodbury County (556).
Sioux City itself had 329 outages. Monona County had 224 outages and the sheriff's office said on Facebook the issue could be a multi-day event. "Winds caused trees and branches to fall onto overhead lines," MidAmerican Energy said in a statement.
"The winds also caused some lines to gallop. Galloping occurs when snow or ice accumulates on overhead lines, which disrupts airflow, and high winds can cause them to bounce violently." Observers and line crews reported a large number of broken power poles across areas impacted by the storm.
MidAmerican crews, along with crews mobilized from surrounding states, were relocated to areas with the greatest impacts. The Des Moines-based utility said most customers can expect power to return by the end of day on Thursday, with their teams working around the clock until all it's restored to all customers. The National Weather Service forecast a high of 44 for Thursday.
Friday there is a 20% chance of rain after 1 p.m. and a high temp of 54.
The highs for the weekend are expected to reach into the 50s. Journal reporters Jared McNett, Dolly Butz, Nick Hytrek and Mason Dockter contributed to this story. A snowplow clears snow and slush off of Sixth Street early Wednesday, March 19, 2025, in downtown Sioux City.
Wet, heavy snow, whipped by high winds began falling in the city early Wednesday and is expected to end that afternoon with accumulations of about five-inches. Tim Hynds, Sioux City Journal A worker brushes snow and slush off of the sidewalk in front of Sioux City Police-Fire Headquarters early Wednesday, March 19, 2025, in downtown Sioux City. Wet, heavy snow, whipped by high winds began falling in the city early Wednesday and is expected to end that afternoon with accumulations of about five-inches.
Tim Hynds, Sioux City Journal.
