The weather in December has followed a trend that’s familiar to Iowans this year. State Climatologist Harry Hillaker says this month will average slightly warmer than normal, despite some bitterly cold temperatures around mid-December. “Temperatures down as low as minus 29 degrees at Rock Rapids back on December the 18th, so episodes of very cold weather, but the first week and also the last 10 days or so of the month have been much above normal, so basically canceling out that cold period, so overall kind of an average month for temperatures,” Hillaker says.

Some unusually warm conditions arrived last weekend. “The warm spot came on Christmas night. In southeast Iowa, Keokuk got up to 60 degrees just before midnight the end of Christmas Day,” Hillaker says. This month will also enter the books as slightly wetter than normal, with a statewide average of 1.5 inches of precipitation. Sections of northeast Iowa helped boost those numbers after getting over 20 inches of snow in December. Hillaker says the average statewide temperature for 2016 was 51.7 degrees.

“Probably will go into the books as the fifth warmest year on record in Iowa,” Hillaker says. “The most recent warmer one was four years ago in 2012, which was about one degree warmer yet than this year.” In addition to being warmer than normal, the weather in 2016 will be remembered for record-or-near-record flooding. “A large area of the state from the Forest City/Mason City area eastward through Charles City, Decorah, New Hampton, Cresco — those areas — all had their wettest year on record this year,” Hillaker says, “and actually broke the record by quite a large amount in many places.”

Many areas of north-central and northeast Iowa recorded over 50-inches of precipitation during the year. “The highest total I’m aware of at the moment came at Charles City: 58.59 inches of precipitation there for this year and the (previous) record amount was 51.35 (inches) set in 1999 in that location,” Hillaker says.

Meanwhile, it was a relatively dry year over sections of southern Iowa. “This would be places such as from roughly about the Lamoni area, maybe as far north as Oskaloosa and then back down southeastward toward Burlington, but many areas more than a foot rainfall less-than-usual this year,” Hillaker says, “so quite a contrast to the rest of the state.”

A total of 43 tornadoes touched down in Iowa this year. “That’s four less than the recent period average, but I guess the good news in that is most of those were on the weaker side in terms of strength of tornadoes,” Hillaker says. “There were just two that were rated EF2 on the tornado-intensity scale and both of those were on July 17th, both in Benton County.”

(Radio Iowa)

Early This Morning: Mostly clear. Colder. Southwest wind near 5 mph.
Today: Sunny, breezy. High in the mid 40s. South wind 5 to 10 mph with gusts to around 20 mph increasing to 15 to 20 mph with gusts to around 30 mph in the afternoon.
Tonight: Partly cloudy until early morning then becoming mostly cloudy. Low in the upper 20s. Southwest wind 10 to 15 mph shifting to the northwest after midnight.
Saturday: Mostly sunny. Colder. High in the lower 30s. Northwest wind 5 to 15 mph with gusts to around 25 mph.
Saturday Night: Mostly clear. Low 15 to 20. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
New Years Day: Mostly sunny. High around 40. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday Night: Cloudy with a 40 percent chance of light snow. Not as cold. Low in the lower 30s.
Monday: Cloudy. A chance of light rain and snow in the morning, then light rain likely possibly mixed with snow in the afternoon. High in the upper 30s. Chance of precipitation 60 percent.

CASS-ADAIR-AUDUBON-GUTHRIE-DALLAS-SAC-CRAWFORD-CARROLL COUNTIES: WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 5-P.M. TODAY (12/29)

MONONA-HARRISON-SHELBY-POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTIES: WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 4 PM TODAY.

* WINDS…PERIODS OF NORTHWEST WINDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS
OF 40 TO 45 MPH THROUGH MID TO LATE AFTERNOON.

* IMPACTS…TRAVEL COULD BE HAZARDOUS. SUDDEN WIND GUSTS MAY CAUSE LOSS OF CONTROL…ESPECIALLY FOR LIGHT WEIGHT AND HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES OR TRAILERS.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

A WIND ADVISORY MEANS THAT WINDS OF 35 MPH ARE EXPECTED. WINDS
THIS STRONG CAN MAKE DRIVING DIFFICULT, ESPECIALLY FOR HIGH
PROFILE VEHICLES. USE EXTRA CAUTION.

Today: Partly cloudy, breezy & cooler. High near 40. NW @ 15-30.

Tonight: Mostly clear. Low 20. . W/NW winds 5-10 after midnight.

Tomorrow: P/Cldy & warmer. High 47. SW @ 10-15.

Saturday: P/Cldy to Cldy. High 37.

Sunday (News Year’s Day): P/Cloudy. High 39.

Sunday night: A 30% chance of snow after midnight. Low 28.

Monday: Mostly cloudy w/a chance of rain or snow. High around 37.

Wednesday’s High in Atlantic was 46. Our 24-Hour Low (ending at 7-a.m. today) was 31. Last year on this date, our High in Atlantic was 24 and the low was 12. The Record High in Atlantic on this date was 60 in 1984. The Record Low was -22 in 1917.

Early This Morning: Clear, breezy. West wind 15 to 20 mph with gusts to around 30 mph.
Today: Sunny, breezy. High in the upper 30s. Northwest wind 15 to 25 mph with gusts to around 35 mph.
Tonight: Mostly clear. Low in the lower 20s. West wind 5 to 15 mph. Gusts up to 25 mph through midnight.
Friday: Sunny. High in the mid 40s. South wind 5 to 15 mph with gusts to around 25 mph.
Friday Night: Partly cloudy. Low in the mid 20s. Southwest wind 10 to 15 mph shifting to the west after midnight.
Saturday: Partly sunny in the morning then clearing. Colder. High in the lower 30s. Northwest wind 5 to 15 mph with gusts to around 25 mph.
Saturday Night: Mostly clear. Low 15 to 20.
New Years Day: Partly sunny. High in the upper 30s.

AREA COUNTIES: SAC-CRAWFORD-CARROLL…

WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 9 AM UNTIL 5 PM TODAY (THURSDAY)

* WINDS…PERIODS OF NORTHWEST WINDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS OF 40 TO 45 MPH BEGINNING LATER THIS MORNING AND INTO THE EARLY EVENING.

* IMPACTS…HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES…ESPECIALLY IN CROSS WINDS…WILL BE ADVERSELY AFFECTED THROUGH THE DAY. LOOSE OBJECTS MAY BLOW AROUND OR BECOME AIRBORNE RESULTING IN PROPERTY DAMAGE OR INJURY.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS… A WIND ADVISORY MEANS THAT WINDS OF 35 MPH ARE EXPECTED. WINDS THIS STRONG CAN MAKE DRIVING DIFFICULT, ESPECIALLY FOR HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES. USE EXTRA CAUTION.

Today: Partly cloudy & breezy. High 47. SW-NW @ 10-20.

Tonight: Partly cloudy. Low 26. NW @ 10-20.

Tomorrow: P/Cldy. High 38. NW @ 15-25.

Friday: P/Cldy. High 45.

Saturday: Mostly cloudy. High 35.

Tuesday’s High in Atlantic was 45. Our 24-Hour Low (ending at 7-a.m. today) was 24. Last year on this date, our High in Atlantic was 23 and the low was 17. The Record High in Atlantic on this date was 65 in 1984. The Record Low was -25 in 1924.

Early this morning: Mostly clear. Low in the upper 20s. Southwest wind 10 to 15 mph.
Today: Partly sunny. High in the mid 40s. West wind 5 to 15 mph.
Tonight: Mostly clear. Breezy. Low in the mid 20s. West wind 10 to 20 mph with gusts to around 30 mph.
Thursday: Sunny, breezy. High in the upper 30s. Northwest wind 15 to 25 mph with gusts to around 35 mph.
Thursday Night: Mostly clear. Low around 20. West wind 5 to 15 mph. Gusts up to 25 mph through midnight.
Friday: Mostly sunny. High in the lower 40s.
Friday Night: Mostly cloudy. Low in the mid 20s.
Saturday: Partly sunny. High in the mid 30s.

There’s a lot of soil moisture in the north central Corn Belt and DTN meteorologist Bryce Anderson says it could impact the 2017 planting and growing season. “Parts of northeastern Iowa, southern Minnesota, parts of Wisconsin…that’s a very high producing sector of the Corn Belt,” Anderson says.

Soil moisture has been an issue for much of the past 10 years, except for the drought in 2012. “There’s been some planting problems during the spring time and I think this is likely to happen again,” Anderson says.

He says there are adequate to surplus soil moisture supplies in northern and eastern Iowa, much of Minnesota, Wisconsin, northern Illinois, and parts of Indiana. Anderson says it won’t take much rain to bring those levels “over the top.”

(Reporting by Julie Harker, Brownfield Ag News)

Today: Mostly sunny. High 43. W-SW @ 10-15.

Tonight: Partly cloudy. Low 24. SW @ 5-10.

Tomorrow: P/Cldy. High 47. SW-NW @ 10-20.

Thursday: P/Cldy & cooler. High 37.

Friday: P/Cldy. High 43.

Monday’s High in Atlantic was 34. Our 24-Hour Low (ending at 7-a.m. today) was 24. Last year on this date, our High in Atlantic was 23 and the low was 11. The Record High in Atlantic on this date was 65 in 1946. The Record Low was -21 in 1924.