The Arctic conditions haven’t made it easy for them. Donald Trump wasn’t here for the worst of it – he had a courtroom to be in last week – but his top two rivals were affected by the whiteout weather and snow squalls. Ron DeSantis called off several events and Nikki Haley turned town-hall meetings into teleconferences.

As I write this, it’s -20 degrees Celsius and my phone tells me it “feels like” -31c.

But I’ve found a warm high school gym with the ABC’s North America bureau chief, Jade Macmillan, and camera operator Bradley McLennan.

Iowans will soon begin gathering there, and at hundreds of other venues across the state, to vote for the candidate they think should take on Joe Biden in the November election. This is the first big test of the 2024 election race, and candidates have always wanted to do well here.

Historically, candidates struggle to recover from a bad result in Iowa, because voters in other states tend to write them off as a lost cause. And if they do well, the momentum often (but not always) builds, attracting more support from voters and donors.

Last week, some of the more optimistic estimates suggested about 200,000 people would turn out to caucus tonight, which would be a record. But the weather – itself a record; the coldest caucus night ever – is likely to persuade some to stay home.

The caucus meetings all start at 7pm local time (12pm AEDT). We’ll bring you all the news we can from here, with some help from our colleagues in Washington and Australia, as the meetings take place and the results begin rolling in.

For now, you can read about what’s been happening in the lead-up to tonight here.