Sheldon, Iowa — Cold highs, and even colder lows and heavy snowfall greeted Sheldon as the New Year kicked off.
According to the daily weather data recorded by KIWA, the warmest day of January came on the first, when the high reached 37 degrees. There were a couple of days that got close as the middle of the month gave a 3-day stretch of 36-degree highs. The most common high temperature was 27 degrees which showed itself eight times throughout the month, which did give the high temperature for January 2023 an average of 27 degrees, being slightly warmer than the average normal high of 25, and ties 2022’s average high of 27.
The coldest high temperature of January 2023 came on the last day of the month, when the high temperature only reached zero. The lowest the mercury got in January 2023 was also on the last day, when the low temperature reached 15 degrees below zero. That rounded out a total of low temperatures that dipped below zero to seven days, and one day having zero as its low temperature. The warmest low of the month came on January 17th, when the low only dipped to 27 degrees. The average low temperature for the month of January 2023 was one degree, which also ties the average low of January 2022, but is colder than the average normal low temperature of four degrees.
January 2023 gave plenty of snowfall, primarily in 3 different snowfall events, in the first part of the month, the middle of the month, and then at the end of the month. The third through the fifth gave a snowfall event that began as sleet. The total snowfall for that event was five inches, yielding .63 of an inch of moisture. The next snow event came on the 19th, when Sheldon was home to 5 ½ inches of fresh snow, which had just over a half inch of moisture in it. The third and final snowfall event of January 2023 came toward the end of the month, when the 27th, 28th, and 29th received more snow yet, totaling 4 3/4 inches of snow combined, and having a moisture content of just under a half of an inch for those three days. The total moisture content that fell in the month of January was 1.76 inches, which is over a full inch above the normal moisture content of 0.65 inches for January, With all the snowfall, Sheldon received 15.26 inches of snow, which was 8.86 inches above the snow total for the normal January snowfall of 6.4 inches. That brought the total season snowfall to 33.46 inches, which was a full 14.76 inches above the normal season snowfall to date of 18.7 inches.
