CEDAR RAPIDS - 9:30 a.m. update: Most state highways in northern Iowa roadways that closed yesterday due to winter weather have been reopened this morning. The Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) is still advising Iowans to take extra precautions, if traveling today, as blowing and drifting could continue to be a safety risk in some areas.
Roads now open:
# All state highways in Dubuque County.
# Buchanan County - Iowa 150, south of Independence
# Clayton County - U.S. 52, from Dubuque County to Guttenberg
# Delaware County - Iowa 13, north of Manchester
# Delaware County - Iowa 3, west from Dubuque County to Colesburg
The following road is still closed due to drifting.
# Delaware County - Iowa 38, north from just north of U.S. 20 to Iowa 3
Iowa DOT road crews will be working to restore and maintain normal winter driving conditions. The department will be closely monitoring road conditions in partnership with the Iowa State Patrol and issuing updated travel advisories as needed.
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Most secondary roads and some major highways across northeast Iowa drifted shut late Sunday in the wake of a snowstorm that dropped up to 10 inches at some locations. Improving conditions are forecast for today and Christmas Day.
"We're trying to get (the word) out not to travel at all," a Dubuque County sheriff's dispatcher said last night. "We've got hundreds of them in the ditch."
The worst-affected area was north of a line from Vinton to Anamosa to Bellevue, according to the National Weather Service.
Among the highways reported closed last night were Highway 13 north of Cedar Rapids; Highway 150 south of Independence; Highway 136 north of Dyersville; Highway 151 in Dubuque County; and Highway 52 between Dubuque and Guttenberg. Dozens more county roads also were drifted shut, especially north-south routes.
The Iowa State Patrol banned tow trucks from most of Interstate 380, Highway 151 in Dubuque County and other highways in the northeast corner of the state.
Roads still were icy this morning. Some 40 vehicles remained in the ditch between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City along I-380 at 8 o'clock.
Although hundreds of vehicles went off area roads, northeast Iowa sheriff's offices reported no serious accidents as of last night. A multi-vehicle accident was reported Sunday afternoon along Highway 218 in Johnson County, but no details were immediately available.
"If you're in a safe place, stay there," said a dispatcher in Allamakee County, adding residents seemed to be heeding the warning.
"I think everyone's got the idea from last night," she said. "Everyone's staying home."
Even snowplows headed for cover late Sunday as the wind picked up, with gusts of up to 40 mph and wind chills below zero.
"We had everybody in trying to make as much headway as we can," Linn County Engineer Steve Gannon said. With all 45 plows operating, "it takes about three days in a reasonable storm to make any headway, and this isn't reasonable. Even the state roads have had problems."
The only county plows operating last night, he said, would be ones escorting ambulances or other emergency vehicles.
"It's got to rise to the level where you're willing to see a sheriff's deputy," Gannon said.
Saturday night's snowfall amounts ranged from 4 inches south of Iowa City to 8 inches at Cedar Rapids and 10 inches in Anamosa, said Bill Nichols, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service's Davenport office. Des Moines received 4 inches.
Cedar Rapids police responded to 10 minor accidents, 41 stalled or stuck vehicles, and 11 "traffic prob- lems" between 1 a.m and 1 p.m. Iowa City police assisted more than 70 motorists during the day.
The Gazette was unable to deliver a number of Sunday newspapers because of weather conditions.
One Gazette carrier, Clint Miller, 26, of Marion, said he was unable to deliver his regular route because of being stranded at a friend's house. Instead, he covered another stranded carrier's route in Marion.
"The streets weren't bad," he said. "It was just the driveways and the sidewalks. A lot of places, you had to walk in 3 feet of snow just to get to their porch."
The winds were expected to decrease by midnight, Nichols, of the National Weather Service said on Sunday, allowing road crews to make some progress today.
Nichols said scattered flurries today would bring only light snow, followed by a partly sunny Christmas with a high around 30.
"Cold, but not extremely below normal," he said. "The key is, it'll be a white Christmas."
Elsewhere, winter storm warnings were posted for parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana as the core of the storm headed north across the Great Lakes. Parts of Wisconsin already had a foot of snow, and up to a foot was forecast in northeastern Minnesota.
Source: GazetteOnline.com - December 24, 2007