Nikki Haley has canceled her in-person events on Friday. Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy are still planning some, for now.
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Iowa has already been hit by bursts of winter weather, and a blizzard warning is in effect on Friday as campaigning winds down.
Former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina canceled her town-hall events in Iowa that had been scheduled for Friday, citing what forecasters for the National Weather Service called “life-threatening winter weather.”
Ms. Haley’s in-person events will be turned into “telephone town halls” instead. But Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Vivek Ramaswamy, the wealthy entrepreneur, said they would press forward with campaign events scheduled for Friday, for now.
A Thursday evening forecast from the National Weather Service office in Des Moines said that widespread heavy snowfalls would begin Thursday and last through Friday night, accompanied by wind gusts of up to 45 miles an hour. The agency added that “travel may become impossible in rural areas by Friday afternoon into Friday night across central Iowa.”
Life-threatening winter weather is expected beginning tonight with heavy snow. White-out conditions likely Fri into Fri night. To follow, extreme wind chills as low as -45° possible through early next week.
Plan ahead for this dangerous stretch of winter weather! #iawx pic.twitter.com/LIASboryuZ
— NWS Des Moines (@NWSDesMoines) January 11, 2024
Mr. DeSantis has five campaign events planned on Friday in Iowa, beginning with an early morning town hall where he will be accompanied by Gov. Kim Reynolds, who has endorsed his bid.
Mr. Ramaswamy also has five events planned. He defied earlier warnings of bad weather this week, declaring that “if you can’t handle the snow, you can’t handle Xi Jinping.”
The winter weather isn’t letting up as Caucus Day on Monday approaches. The National Weather Service said that extreme wind chills, as low as 40 degrees below zero, would be present across Iowa on the night of the caucuses. Forecasters stressed that “this is life-threatening cold” and added, “Anyone caught outside will be in danger.”
Kellen Browning, Anjali Huynh and Nicholas Nehamas contributed reporting.
Chris Cameron covers politics for The Times, focusing on breaking news and the 2024 campaign. More about Chris Cameron
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Source: nytimes.com
