Brutal Cold, Wind Chills Will Last Through Tuesday

DES MOINES, IA — The New Year's weekend should have been a good time for area residents to enjoy daytime and evening ice skating at Brenton Skating Plaza downtown. Mother Nature had other ideas.

Due to the forecast for extreme cold temperatures and wind chills, the skating plaza closes at 5 p.m. today and will not reopen until 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Outdoor ice rinks located in Ankeny, Waukee and West Des Moines are not staffed and skating is allowed "weather permitting." Green flags indicate when skating is allowed. None of the cities had posted weekend closings on their website or Facebook pages by late afternoon Friday.

Once the snow ends in central Iowa today, arctic air will "surge into Iowa tonight and persist across the area into early Tuesday, bringing bitterly cold wind chills," according to the National Weather Service in Des Moines.

Daytime highs will be below zero the next three days, with double-digit below-zero temperatures overnight. The most dangerous cold will fall New Year's Eve with overnight lows Sunday into Monday at -19.

A wind chill advisory will be in effect from 4 a.m. Saturday to noon Tuesday.

"There will be brief periods on Saturday afternoon and again Sunday afternoon where portions of the area may rise above wind chill advisory criteria, however that will be limited," the weather service said. "Additionally, even colder air will move into the area for Sunday into Monday and portions if not all of the advisory area will likely be upgraded to a wind chill warning at some point."

Many area communities also have enacted parking bans on city streets in order for crews to plow. Check your community's website for weather and snow route information.

Image via National Weather Service Des Moines