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There’s a lot of snow on the ground, and schools are doing what they always do — canceling when necessary to keep kids safe.

“It’s winter in Iowa, so we have to expect cold and snow,” Jennifer Lane, Fort Dodge Community Schools communications director, said Monday.

The snowfall landing in Fort Dodge totaled about 7 inches, according to National Weather Service Meteorologist Allan Curtis.

-Messenger photo by Joe Sutter
Ruts in the snow can be seen along this mostly cleared stretch of Third Avenue North, while at the opposite end of the street the post office van makes its way.

“For the Fort Dodge, northwest Iowa region, it generally is the biggest snowfall so far this season,” Curtis said.

But after all that snow on Sunday, a two-hour delay Monday morning ensured the school buses didn’t have any trouble on the roads, said Brad Niemeyer, FDCSD transportation director.

“On the late starts we have, that gives the city time to get some of the side roads out. Last night they did really well,” Niemeyer said Monday morning. “Everything was good, the county did an excellent job cleaning the roads off today, and we had no issues this morning.”

Several schools around the area experienced two-hour delays, but not South Central Calhoun.

“They had gotten onto the roads Sunday, so we started on time,” said SCC Superintendent Jeff Kruse.

-Messenger photo by Joe Sutter
A statue of praying hands rises among the snowy shrubbery at the Fort Dodge Memorial Park cemetary Monday.

So far this year, SCC has missed seven days because of the weather, Kruse said.

“We always have three to four (makeup days) listed in our schedule. But now we’re into the middle of June,” Kruse said. “Generally speaking, you can count on four to five days missed a year.”

Fort Dodge schools will get out on June 6.

To the south, Southeast Valley Schools have also had seven snow days so far, and will get out on May 31, Superintendent Brian Johnson said.

The snow hasn’t given SV much trouble this week.

-Messenger photo by Joe Sutter
Snow clings to the trees outside Fort Dodge Senior High along a sidewalk, as classes begin at 10 a.m. Monday.

“Not until Wednesday morning,” Johnson said, noting the forecast.

The Pocahontas Area School District has already used five snow days this year; three in January and two in February, according to Superintendent Joe Kramer.

The school year has actually had to be extended by three days because the school already used up its two snow make up days.

Kramer said the last day of school will now be May 30.

Right now, Kramer said he and other school officials are looking into what other options may be available should any more snow days have to be used.

Logan Geerdes, 10, and his brother, Sebastian Geerdes, 7, of Manson, play in the 7 inches of snow that fell on the Calhoun County town from Saturday night into Sunday.

Two hour delays also give the bus drivers more time to make it to work. On a normal school day, the first bus in Fort Dodge goes out at 6:10 in the morning, Niemeyer said.

The county’s plows are on the road by 4 a.m., focusing on the paved roads first, said Webster County Road Foreman Dale Anderson.

Although winds may have been milder than in some other recent storms, there was still drifting across the roads, he said.

“We try to keep the blacktops in the best shape we can, and when it’s drifting across like that it’s just difficult for us to leave the blacktops to go out and clean the gravel,” said Anderson Monday afternoon. “So we never really got out to the gravel until today.”

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The heaviest snow in Iowa fell around the Des Moines area, Curtis said, with reports of around 8 to 10 inches.

Snowfall*

Fort Dodge: 7″

Manson: 7″

Rockwell City: 6″

Webster City: 9″

Algona: 4.5″

Pocahontas: 6″

Sac City: 6″

Emmetsburg: 6.5″

*Unofficial

Compared to the 7 inches spotted in Fort Dodge, snow actually tapered off a bit to the north, with a report of 4.5 inches in Algona, he said.

Sac City reported 6 inches, Pocahontas 6 inches, and Emmetsburg 6.5.

“Thankfully, this last snowfall was a nice snowfall,” Curtis said. “Fluffy, no wind.

“We’ve had a lot of wound up ones with a lot of winds lately. Thankfully that one wasn’t too bad.”

From Jan. 1 to Monday, the National Weather Service’s co-op station in Fort Dodge recorded a snowfall total of 24.9 inches, he said. That’s actually less than the same period in 2018, which had 29 inches of snow.

“The snowiest was 2007, with 46 inches,” he said.

Yet another winter storm will impact much of Iowa from late Tuesday into Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. Snow will develop over southwestern Iowa late this afternoon and quickly move northeast during the evening and early nighttime hours, falling heavily at times through the night. Winds will be light, but visibility will be significantly reduced during periods of intense snowfall. Road conditions will rapidly deteriorate tonight.

Affected counties include Kossuth, Palo Alto, Pocahontas, Humboldt, Wright, Sac, Calhoun, Webster and Hamilton.

As much as 5 to 7 inches of snow is possible.

Messenger Reporter Chad Thompson contributed to this story