Near-Record Breaking Temperature Drop After the Storm Hit

What a crazy day of weather on Wednesday, December 15^th. We went from wearing shorts and T-shirts in Mid-December to bundling up in winter gear in just a matter of hours.

At 3 PM on Wednesday it was 73* in Cedar Rapids, setting a new record high for not just December 15^th, but for the entire month of December. Until Wednesday, it had never reached 70* in Cedar Rapids in the month of December. The prior daily record was 55* set in 1957. The prior all-time December high temperature for Cedar Rapids was 69* set in 1998.

Waterloo also hit 73*, smashing the former record of 54* set 98 years ago in 1923. (records date back to 1895) This was also the first time that temperatures surpassed the 70* threshold in the month of December for the city. The previous all-time December high temperature was 67*, which occurred three times, most recently on December 3, 2012.

Then, the storm hit. At midnight in Cedar Rapids, it was 28.* It dropped an amazing 45* in nine hours. That’s the fifth-largest temperature drop in a nine-hour period since records began tracking this info in 1972, according to information from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

In Waterloo, it also reached the peak of 73* at 3 PM and then fell to 29* by 8 AM on 12/16, that's a temperature drop of 44* in nine hours. That’s the second-highest temperature drop in a nine-hour period since records began recording this information in 1949.

The storms wreaked havoc all across Iowa, as all 99 counties reported storm damage and thousands were without power. 13 tornadoes were reported in the state. See photos of the damage HERE.