Iowa DOT Prepared for Winter to Last Into Mid-April

Though high temps this week have reached into the 50s and no significant snowfall is in the forecast for the next week, don’t count on winter being done just yet.

Pete Hjelmstad with the Iowa DOT’s Mason City District office says their official winter season for road crews runs from October 15th to April 15th.

Weather two weeks ago blanketed the state in snow and led to a new record for the number of DOT snowplows being hit in one day by other vehicles.

Hjelmstad said those 15 collisions on February 12th included one on US Highway 63 west of Tripoli and a snowplow T-boned by a car on Iowa 27 ramp to Waterloo Road in Cedar Falls.

A semi strike of a DOT snowplow February 15th on Highway 218, just north of Nashua, required involvement from the Iowa State Patrol.

Hjelmstad said most snowplow hits result from motorists being distracted or driving too fast for road conditions.

The previous single-day record of DOT snowplow hits in Iowa was nine in 2024.