From the KCRG-TV9 Newsroom:
Eastern Iowa is preparing for a badly timed winter storm. Later today, you’ll see snow develop, but the big problem will be the plunging temperatures and blizzard-like winds that will come after. That should make tonight and much of tomorrow miserable… and dangerous for travel.
Some school districts are wasting no time in shutting down the classroom. The dismissals are not only based on the weather, but the fact it comes just as the holiday break is about to begin. Linn-Mar, Cedar Falls, Marion, and Iowa City districts are among the largest to already announce they’ll be closed Thursday. More are expected to announce soon.
Iowa City is urging people to park off the street downtown later this week, to make sure plows can get down the road. People can also park overnight in ramps downtown. And if your only option is to park on the street, the city suggests making sure cars are not directly across from each other- to make sure plows have enough room to get through.
The bad weather is also impacting college basketball games across the state. Both the Iowa women and men moved to this afternoon. The women tip off at noon from Carver when they host Dartmouth. And the men will follow around 2:30 to take on Eastern Illinois. U-N-I also moved up its men’s game against Saint Bonaventure. It will now start at 6 tonight instead of Thursday. Iowa State canceled its games for later this week. The men were supposed to take on Omaha tonight and the women were home on Thursday to play Drake. The Athletics Director said the schools decided to cancel to make sure the student athletes could safely get home for the holidays.
Iowa’s Department of Natural Resources determined water contaminated from the workplace explosion in Marengo did *not* get into drinking water. That’s according to an Iowa City water treatment official. But the D-N-R did find contaminated water runoff in a ditch that drains to the Iowa River. Because of that Iowa City’s Water Division is working with the D-N-R to test the Iowa River. Results will take two weeks to get… but Iowa City says they anticipate there will not be an impact on their water supply.
