Two Tama residents trying to clear their driveway. PHOTO BY MICHAEL SNOWDRIFT DAVIS

TAMA COUNTY – 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 County 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 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 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.”

An Iowa DOT plow doing its job on Highway 63. PHOTO BY MICHAEL SNOWDRIFT DAVIS

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.”

At the height of the second storm, many of the roads in northern Tama County were completely impassable – and not just the secondary roads.

Uptown Toledo experiencing a snow flurry. PHOTO BY MICHAEL SNOWDRIFT DAVIS

Both IA 96 between Gladbrook and the junction with US 63, and US 218 between La Porte City and Vinton were 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.

Toledo Police out on patrol during nearly white out conditions. PHOTO BY MICHAEL SNOWDRIFT DAVIS

From blocked roads to bitter cold

Through the weekend, Tama County 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.

PHOTO BY MICHAEL SNOWDRIFT DAVIS

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 Tama County 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 – a particular problem for those who might be waiting in line to enter a caucus site.

Amid such a dire forecast, secondary roads staff continued their quest Monday afternoon to gain the upperhand on the condition of Tama County’s roads.

Highway 63, buried in snow. PHOTO BY MICHAEL SNOWDRIFT DAVIS

“We have 16 motor graders and 13 trucks,” 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.”

Toledo’s business district covered in snow. PHOTO BY MICHAEL SNOWDRIFT DAVIS

The view west from Highway 63 shrouded in white. PHOTO BY MICHAEL SNOWDRIFT DAVIS

A Toledo snow plow working its way through town. PHOTO BY MICHAEL SNOWDRIFT DAVIS