Power Outage in Carroll, IA

Sheriff reported half of the city of Carroll without power and numerous crews out clearing up to a foot diameter trees from roads in town along with power lines.

Power poles down north of Carroll along Highway 71 at 120th street.

Widespread damage throughout the town of Carroll. Numerous branches, power lines, and street signs down.

Power lines down in Carroll. Large branches down, causing damage to a house porch.

Local law enforcement reports power lines and fencing blown down near the 1500 block of Highway 71 in Carroll.

Power poles down at the intersection of Ivy Ave and Highway 30.

A cold front moved into Iowa during the evening of the 19th. The severe weather potential was fairly weak given the parameters. CAPE was only around 1000 to 1500 J/kg and precipitable water values were around an inch. The airmass was relatively dry with plenty of dry air in the low levels. Downdraft CAPE was around 1000 J/kg in western Iowa. A line of thunderstorms formed along the cold front during the afternoon and moved into western Iowa during the evening. The storms moved into the far western part of the Des Moines CWA and produced winds of 60 to 70 MPH. Reports of tree and power line damage occurred with some outbuilding damage in Crawford, Carroll, and Sac Counties.

A powerful storm system moved into the southwest U.S. on January 31st into the 1st. The system moved east-northeast across the southern U.S. on the 1st into early the 2nd. Surface low pressure developed over west Texas. The low tracked across Arkansas and eventually through the Ohio River Valley. A considerable amount of moisture was drawn north into the storm system. A very large shield of precipitation developed to the north of the low pressure track. The main deformation zone was nearly 4 degrees wide, covering a large part of the mid section of the country. Snow spread north into Iowa during the afternoon of the 1st and picked up in intensity rapidly during the late afternoon and early evening hours. The low pressure system deepened rapidly as well. A strong pressure gradient was in place over the state. As the low crossed extreme southern Illinois, the pressure dropped to about 995 mb. At the same time a high pressure of nearly 1050 mb was located over western North Dakota. Winds increased rapidly during the evening with sustained winds of 25 to 35 MPH across most of the state. Winds gusted to 50 MPH southwest into west central Iowa. The combination of falling snow and strong winds dropped visibility to around 1/4 mile at times for several hours. Whiteout conditions were reported in some rural areas. Roads became impassible in places, and treacherous everywhere. A few highways were closed as they drifted shut, however most of the main highways remained open, including Interstate 80. Numerous businesses and nearly all schools closed by the afternoon of the 1st and remained closed on the 2nd. Snowfall amounts of 4 to 8 inches were common across the area, with heavier snow falling farther east. The same event is also listed in Stormdata as the 01-02 February Blizzard for central and southeast Iowa.

A cold front approached Iowa from the northwest, while at the same time a surface trough approached from the west. Temperatures warmed into the 80s ahead of the two systems with dew point readings rising into the upper 50s to low 60s. The airmass became unstable and thunderstorms formed rapidly by late afternoon into the evening hours. Scattered hail and high winds were reported with the storms. The hail was generally in the three quarter to one inch diameter range, while the wind gusts were generally around 60 MPH. The combination caused some minor damage, but was limited to mainly tree branches and power lines. Crop damage was limited as little of the seasons crop was above ground at the time.

A strong low pressure system formed over the southwest U.S. and moved northeast into Iowa. Though there was not a great deal of cold air in the environment, there was a shallow layer of sub-freezing air over Iowa. Initially, temperatures were cool enough for the precipitation to fall as light snow. Most of the state received from one to five inches of snow during the afternoon and evening of the 28th. During the night, warm air moved in aloft. As the next round of precipitation began, it fell in the form of freezing rain. All of Iowa received significant ice from this. Ice accretion rates were between 5 and 10 hundredths of an inch per hours. The shallow cold air eroded over the southeast and central sections of the state by late morning, changing the freezing rain to rain. This limited the accumulation of ice to under one quarter of an inch. Over far north central into west central Iowa, temperatures at the surface failed to warm above freezing. Freezing rain continued through the afternoon with several areas reporting one quarter to one half inch of ice accumulation on trees and power lines. Damage was minor as there was little wind with this event. Spotty power outages were reported and some tree limbs were downed. Nearly all schools in the state and many businesses closed their doors in anticipation of the storm. Travel was difficult through the morning and early afternoon hours. There was some improvement with the daylight and treatment of the roads. Freezing rain changed to snow during the evening hours, however accumulation of snow as generally under 3 inches.

A mesoscale convective system developed during the night over North Dakota and tracked southeast. The system moved south-southeast along the baroclinic zone ahead of a warm front to the west of Iowa. All of the convection was very elevated in nature with cloud bases around 10,000 feet. As the storms moved southward across Iowa they produced gusty winds. Winds of 60 to 65 MPH ripped through Carroll, Guthrie, Adair, and Greene Counties. Damage was only spotty however. Most of the damage was limited to downed trees and scattered power lines.