Rainy start to Election Day, staying damp & chilly

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — If you're heading out to the polls Tuesday morning, you might need an umbrella!

We're seeing shower chances through at least some of the morning hours as a low pressure system continues to push to the east.

We should see those showers clearing out through the early afternoon with a drier afternoon to follow. It's still going to be chilly, though, with highs only in the upper 40s/low 50s. We might even see some late day clearing before sunset!

You'll will want to pack the rain gear if you're going to vote earlier in the day and will need the heavier jackets and sweatshirts if you're heading out to the polls later in the day.

Thankfully, though, we're not going to see any records broken for the day, with the record high temperature set the last time we voted for president in 2020. The high temperature that year reached 79 degrees

On the flip side, the 1936 election, on Nov. 3, 1936, set the record for the coldest high temperature, only reaching 24 degrees as Franklin D. Roosevelt won reelection.

The coldest low temperature for any Election Day in Sioux City was set 132 years ago during the Nov. 8, 1892 election in which Grover Cleveland defeated Benjamin Harrison, who was up for reelection.

The warmest Election Day low temperature, though, was recorded on November 5, 1918, which was not a presidential election year.

We'll also add the 2024 election to days with precipitation in Sioux City. Only 41 percent of elections featured precipitation, and even less – just 17 percent – have recorded snowfall.

The most precipitation recorded in Sioux City on an Election Day, 0.38," was back in 1916, when Woodrow Wilson was narrowly reelected for a second term. The average precipitation for Election Day in Sioux City is 0.02′′.

The most snowfall ever recorded in Sioux City on Election Day was a bit more recent. That was during the 1990 midterm elections, when 3.4′′ of snow fell.

Recently though, Election Day has been drier and milder. The last time there was snow at the polls was the Nov. 7, 2000 presidential election, in which George W. Bush narrowly defeated former vice president Al Gore.

So, as you can see, Sioux City and Siouxland have seen all types of weather and all temperatures, from frigid to summer-like on Election Day. And this year, it looks to be a fairly average year weather-wise!