There are life-threatening weather conditions in Iowa this week. Blizzards brought nearly a foot of snow this weekend and arctic temperatures are expected to continue through Tuesday morning. The winter storm has made some roads impassable, which led to the cancellation of several campaign events.

And yet, rain, shine or snowstorm, the Iowa caucuses — one of America’s storied political traditions — will see friends and neighbors across the state gather Monday night to choose who they want to become the 2024 Republican presidential standard-bearer.

Iowa’s caucuses started back in the 1840s but became the center of the nominating process much more recently — and pretty much by accident. As The New York Times detailed, after Democratic Party reforms in 1972 to make sure more everyday people were involved in determining the party’s presidential nominee, Iowa moved back its nominating process to earlier in the year. This was done to give the state party time to report the results because it faced logistical hurdles in compiling the flood of incoming results, including having only one old mimeograph machine.