AREA – A strong cold front pushing an Arctic air mass put much of the Midwest, including Iowa, into the freezer beginning during the overnight hours of Thursday, Jan. 22, and continuing through this past Monday. Per the National Weather Service in Des Moines, the coldest conditions enveloped the area Friday morning when air temperatures statewide fell below zero. Locally, temperatures were recorded at least as low as minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit Friday. But the real story was the wind chill values which were near a ridiculous 40 below zero, leading to extremely dangerous conditions conducive to frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes. Area schools canceled en masse Friday after having let out early just two days prior (Wednesday, Jan. 21) due to blizzard conditions from predicted snow squalls (see second photo). When contacted by the newspaper Monday morning – as temperatures in the area hovered near minus 10 with wind chills double that – Tama County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Joe Quandt said the only calls for service expressly due to cold received by his office during the polar plunge were four calls related to concerns of animals being left out in the cold. Tama-Grundy Publishing weather correspondent Randy Cooper perhaps put it best with his succinct summary Monday morning: “Brrrrr!”