KDSN RADIO News
Blizzard Hits West Central Iowa
A winter snow storm dropped three inches of snow in Denison overnight and falling temperatures and high winds will cause even more trouble Thursday and Friday. Meteorologist Brad Small from the National Weather Service Des Moines office says even though we only received three inches of snow, it’ll still cause lots of problems on the road.
“Part of the problem (is) it’ll be very fluffy, light snow,” Rinnan said. “So it’ll be very conducive for blowing around. So that’ll make the blowing snow and the blizzard conditions problematic.”
Denison Police Chief Brandon Rinnan says this storm is nothing to scoff at.
“We’re talking about some pretty big gusts of winds coming our way and it’ll get frigid,” Rinnas said. “The more the winds come, the icier the roads will get.”
Rinnan says a lot of people will be traveling for Christmas. He cautions travelers to be very careful on the roads.
“Travel is going to be a lot more difficult these next few days,” Rinnan said.
Rinnan says if you don’t have to leave your house this weekend, don’t.
“It’s going to be nasty these next few days,” Rinnan said. “We just want people to be aware that they have plenty of food in their house and that they stay off the roads.”
He says if folks have trouble on the roads in Denison and their vehicle gets stuck, they need to call the Denison Police Department.
“They need to call us, we’ll do our best to get someone out there and get them taken care of,” Rinnas said. “Obviously with the roads being bad it makes the time longer for our guys to get there. But we’ll find a way, we’ll get there.”
Rinnan also warns that we should forget about our furry friends outside during this extremely frigid weekend.
“Everybody’s pets and animals are properly kept and have a shelter for themselves,” Rinnan said. “We obviously don’t want to see any dogs out in this storm.”
All schools in the area have closed due to weather. For Thursday, that includes Denison Schleswig Community Schools, St. Rose, Zion Lutheran, Ar-We-Va, IKM-Manning, Harlan. Schools not listed in the closing were already scheduled to be off Thursday and Friday for Winter Break. Other closings include the Denison Norelius Community Library and Garbage pick-up in Denison and Westside has been delayed until Friday.
