A gravel road in eastern Iowa last week following the second of two winter storms that clobbered the state. PHOTO BY SOREN M. PETERSON

The story last week was certainly the weather as two significant winter storms clobbered Iowa – the first blowing through Monday into Tuesday with a heavy, wet snow, and the second arriving Friday into Saturday with blizzard conditions and bitter cold.

The snowstorms combined dumped well over a foot of snow in most places in Tama and Grundy counties leading to widespread school, government, church, and business closures beginning Tuesday and lasting through the weekend.

While the first storm saw snowfall amounts of 12-13 inches in and around northern Tama County coupled with strong winds, the temperatures did not sink to dangerous levels allowing area schoolchildren sequestered at home to safely spend time outdoors exploring the first significant winter wonderland of the 2023-24 season.

The second storm of the week was a different beast entirely, one that kept rural residents living on secondary roads shuttered in their homes for days – many had still not been able to leave their driveways as of Monday this week – due to high winds which created deep, hard-packed drifts across gravel roads. Following the storm, temperatures plummeted well below zero. According to the National Weather Service, the Jan. 12-13 event brought snowfall amounts between seven and 15 inches to eastern Iowa and winds that at times gusted up to 50 mph. Many gravel roads in Tama and Grundy County had still not had a plow or maintainer come through by Monday afternoon following what Tama County Engineer Ben Daleske described as overall “the biggest winter weather event in decades.”

“We’ve had quite the week for winter weather,” Daleske told Tama-Grundy Publishing in an email last Sunday evening. “Tuesday we had close to a foot over the whole county. Wednesday we had roughly two inches over the whole county as well. Friday we had [four to six additional] inches and the windy conditions added another layer of difficulty for the county.”

A photo posted on social media by the Tama County Engineer on Monday, Jan. 16. Tama County’s secondary roads department has been working 12-hour days in an effort to open the county’s gravel roads which became heavily drifted following the blizzard that clobbered Iowa last week Friday-Saturday. PHOTO COURTESY OF TAMA COUNTY ENGINEER/FACEBOOK

Daleske said secondary roads staff were on the clock beginning at 5 a.m. on Sunday for a 12-hour shift in an effort to reopen the widespread buried gravel roads.

“They were out working those hours most of last week as well. The wind thankfully died down [Sunday], so our work was more productive, but the wind and snow from Saturday produced large drifts. We will be tackling those drifts [Monday] and working on opening up more gravel roads.”

Daleske further said in a post on his department’s Facebook page on Monday morning that the county was working to “get all gravels open to at least one lane.”

“The guys are running their routes and working as quickly as they can,” Daleske wrote. “We understand the unease and frustration, but please be patient! As always, if there is any type of emergency, we will assist emergency personnel in clearing the road.”

Over in Grundy County, a similar scenario played out with Engineer Gary Mauer pulling his graders from gravel roads Saturday afternoon due to dangerous blowing and drifting snow which was creating a lack of visibility.

F Avenue located 3.5 miles south of Garwin pictured completely covered in drifting snow on Sunday, Jan. 14. This was a familiar sight for many of Tama County’s rural residents last weekend and into Monday-Tuesday as the county’s secondary roads department diligently worked to open all the gravel roads. PHOTO COURTESY OF PAMELA SCOTT-WAGONER/FACEBOOK

At the height of the second storm, many of the roads in both counties were completely impassable – and not just the secondary roads.

IA 96 between Gladbrook and the junction with US 63 was deemed ‘route impassable’ by the Iowa Dept. of Transportation Friday and Saturday due to drifting, blowing snow.

Compounding the weather, multiple vehicles were stuck in drifts in the middle of IA 96 but thankfully there were no fatalities reported and all deputies stayed safe while on the job, Tama Co. Chief Deputy Joe Quandt said on Monday.

According to data shared with the newspaper, during the second snowstorm (Jan. 12-14) which wreaked the most havoc on the roads, Tama Co. Dispatch received 103 calls for service including nine calls for motorist assistance, 10 calls for public assistance, and 19 calls for a stranded or stuck motorist.

Statewide, the Iowa State Patrol reported that from 12:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 12 through 10 a.m. on Saturday, troopers responded to 535 motorist assist calls and 86 crashes – none fatal.

Cattle feed with dust on their noses and snow on their backs at the rural Tama County farm of Sam and Jenny Hulme on Sunday, Jan. 14. Many area farmers found themselves repeatedly digging out both equipment and vehicles while working to check on and care for livestock as Iowa endured not one but two massive snow storms last week. PHOTO BY EMILY HULME

From blocked roads to bitter cold and broken boilers

Through the weekend, residents mired at home did the best they could to care for themselves, their loved ones, and their livestock including North Tama High School senior Emily Hulme who lives along a chronically windswept section of Oneida Township southeast of Clutier.

Hulme along with her parents Sam and Jenny Hulme and brother Thomas have a cow-calf operation.

“I don’t think they like the snow,” Hulme told Tama-Grundy Publishing on Sunday afternoon while out feeding livestock including some 45 calves amid the bone-chilling temperatures. “Some didn’t want to get out of the shed to eat.”

Feeding those stuck at home was also top of mind for rural Traer resident and mother-of-six Amber Monat who on Monday morning – after being sequestered at home with her and her husband Jeremy’s children since Thursday – wrote on Facebook half-jokingly, “We are down to [two] eggs and [one] gallon of milk…..and [five] slices of bread,” as she searched for information regarding the state of their shuttered gravel road where it meets the highway.

A male Northern cardinal perched on a drooping dead sunflower last Saturday morning during the height of the second snowstorm that hit Iowa. According to Tama Co. Naturalist Raina Genaw, birds possess an excellent sense of direction in the winter which helps them to remember where stored food is located but filling feeders with high-fat foods like sunflower seeds during a deep cold snap is never a bad idea. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Digging out has proved to be a slow process throughout Iowa, not just in Tama County.

“While things have improved greatly on Iowa roads, there are still trouble spots our crews are working hard to address,” the Iowa DOT wrote on Facebook Sunday evening. “It could take up to a week to get the mess cleaned up because ditches are full and high winds will continue to cause drifting snow.”

As folks on Monday – Martin Luther King Jr. Day – continued to wait to have their gravel roads cleared, the cold temperatures took over the headlines with news outlets the world over predicting the Iowa Caucuses set for that evening were looking to be the coldest in history with daytime temperatures remaining below zero.

A wind chill warning was in effect for almost the entire state of Iowa through noon on Tuesday due to dangerously cold wind chills as low as 30 to 40 below zero which could cause frostbite on exposed skin in less than 10 minutes.

In Garwin at GMG’s secondary building only one boiler is currently in operation while the district waits on the installation of a second boiler.

While there were no classes on Monday due to the MLK holiday, the subzero temps proved too much for the building’s struggling equipment and the district made the decision to cancel classes on Tuesday.

“We do have a contractor planning on replacing a boiler, and are going through the process for that. Normally, we’re okay with just the one until temperatures drop this low,” GMG Secondary Principal Jaimie Gargas told the newspaper in an email Monday evening. “Our buildings and grounds director has been great taking care of us! The issue did exist prior to the cold snap, and we’re thankfully already past the bidding process. Now the biggest issue is supply chain.”

On Facebook, the district asked parents to dress students in layers for the schools’ eventual reopening “so that they’re prepared for what the buildings may hold in store for them.”

Amid such a direly cold forecast, secondary roads staff throughout eastern Iowa continued their quest Tuesday to reopen the state’s gravel roads.

“We have 16 motor graders and 13 trucks,” Tama Co. Engineer Daleske said. “Each motor grader has roughly 50-60 miles of gravel roads to plow. Each truck has priority on their pavement routes, but they also have gravel routes as well. We have 179 miles of paved roads and 839 miles of gravel roads to cover as a county.”

“It’s a big task even with normal snowfall levels.”