(Radio Iowa) ) The rare and powerful derecho that rampaged across Iowa last August caused extensive damage to hundreds of thousands of trees, but not all of the wind storm’s damage was negative. Billy Beck, a forestry specialist at the Iowa State University Extension, says the state’s woodland owners -can- recover and make their forests even more resilient than before. “We want to treat this as a forest management opportunity,” Beck says, “and not like an insurmountable setback.” Much like a wildfire can help a forest by clearing out dead trees and undergrowth, the derecho has provided the chance to rebuild some of the state’s key woodlands.

Beck notes oak trees, which are important to Iowa’s environment, love the sunlight. “They actually rely on disturbances such as this that open canopies up and expose young seedlings to sunlight to keep their species on the landscape,” Beck says. “If not, if the canopy closes, a lot of other species that love shade, still good trees but not oaks, will creep up in the understory and eventually take over the canopy.” Diversity is vital in a forest, Beck says, and that includes diversity of species, age, size and structure, as well as distribution on the landscape. He says one plot of forest land in Linn County is a good example of how diversity helped during the derecho.

“This particular property had a lot of younger plantings, a lot of middle age plantings, and some older established forests,” Beck says. “The older established forests were hit pretty hard but the younger and middle age stands of trees that were planted were not. So, this person, although they had some damage, has a forest resource for the future because of their management efforts.” Beck is releasing a series of four short YouTube videos that explain how woodland owners can rebuild after the destructive storm. “There’s really no cookbook method to rebound,” Beck says, “so what these four initial videos were really doing is giving folks a general overview of some big concepts to start thinking about, some resources that are out there that can help them, and just some things to keep their eyes open for following storms.”

Next, Beck plans to release several longer videos that offer more detail about how to start over with woodlands. Iowa has nearly three-million acres of forestland, and saw one-and-three-quarter million acres of forests, wind breaks and urban canopies impacted by the derecho. Iowa’s forestry industry supports 18-thousand jobs and pumps nearly five-billion dollars a year into the economy.

Link to the first of four videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkvaCJrLxMo

Today: Mostly cloudy w/showers & thunderstorms possible this morning. High around 62. N @ 10-20.

Tonight: Partly cloudy. Low near 40. NW @ 5-10.

Tomorrow: P/Cldy. High around 62. N @ 10-15.

Wednesday: P/Cldy to Cldy. High 65.

Thursday: Mo. cldy w/a chance of showers. High around 60.

Sunday’s High in Atlantic was 83. Our Low this morning, 59. We received .03″ of rain overnight. Last year on this date the High in Atlantic was 79 and the Low was 50. The Record High on this date was 87 in 1895, 1949 & 1968. The Record Low was 25 in 1900.

Today: Partly sunny & breezy, with a high near 82. South southwest wind 15 to 25 mph.
Tonight: Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 2am. Low around 56. S @ 10-20 mph. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Monday: Showers and thunderstorms likely. High around 61. N @ 15-25. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.
Monday Night: A 50% chance of showers. Low around 44.
Tuesday: Any showers will be ending in the morning; Becoming partly sunny. High 62. N @ 15-25 mph.
Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 39.
Wednesday: A slight chance of showers after 2pm, otherwise mostly sunny, with a high near 63.

Saturday’s High in Atlantic was 87. Our Low this morning, 59. Last year on this date the High in Atlantic was 74 and the Low was 44. The Record High on this date was 91 in 1968. The Record Low was 17 in 1908.

The month of April in Atlantic was slightly warmer and much drier than normal, additional more concerns about the drought situation. Weather data compiled here at the KJAN Studios (The official National Weather Service reporting site), show the Average High last month (rounded-off) was 64, compared to the normal average high of 62. Our Average Low in April was 36, which was just one-degree cooler than normal. And, we received a just. 45″ (45 one-hundredths of an inch) of precipitation, which was nearly three-inches below the norm for April.

Our Low of 14 on April 1st, tied the record for that date set in 1924. It was also the coldest day for the month.

Looking ahead to the month of May, here in Atlantic, we can expected an Average High of 73-degrees, an Average Low of 49, and rain typically amounting to 4.32-inches. We’ll let you know if we were on par for those conditions…on June 1^st.

(Radio Iowa/KJAN) – April wrapped up on a very dry note, Friday, and the state’s drought conditions are worsening in some areas. Here in Atlantic at the KJAN Studios, we received just .45″ rain during the month, which was nearly 3-inches below normal. State climatologist Justin Glisan says the latest drought map from the U-S Drought Monitor has a new “D-1” area of moderate drought that’s appeared in northeast Iowa. Also, the vast majority of the state is now considered abnormally dry, which Glisan says is something of a warning. “We’ve had a significant expansion of that D-O or abnormally dry category,” Glisan says. “As a reminder, that’s not drought but it is a sentinel for us to recognize that we are seeing drier-than-normal conditions, given precipitation deficits through late spring.”

The map shows the northwestern area of the state continues to be the driest. “We have that existing D-2 severe drought region there,” Glisan says. “Now, we haven’t seen any recent degradation as we have had precipitation fall, sometimes at timely levels. We’re still keeping a close eye on that northwest corner, given the longer-term precipitation deficits that we see there.” Forecasters are calling for a chance of rain early next week and turning the calendar page may bring a change in the drought conditions. “If we look at the short-term outlooks, getting into the beginning of May, we do see elevated signals for wetter-than-normal conditions,” he says, “and then if we look at the initial May outlook, again, we do see an elevated signal for wetter conditions.”

On the plus side, in recent weeks there was a large patch of D-3 — or extreme drought — covering several northwest Iowa counties, which is just below the worst category, D-4, for exceptional drought. This latest map shows no D-3 in Iowa at all.

Today: Mostly Sunny. High 87. S @ 20-35 mph.

Tonight: Fair to P/Cldy. Low 62. S @ 10-15.

Tomorrow: P/Cldy w/a chance of showers, late. High 80. S @ 10-20.

Monday: Cldy w/showers & tstrms. High 62.

Tuesday: P/cldy. High 65.

Friday’s High in Atlantic was 81. Our Low was 39. Last year on this date the High in Atlantic was 83 and the Low was 52. The Record High on this date was 90 in 1965. The Record Low was 24 in 1909.

Today: Partly-to Mostly Sunny. High 74. S @ 10 mph.

Tonight: P/Cldy. Low 50. S @ 5-10.

Tomorrow: Mo. Sunny. High 85. SW @ 15-30.

Sunday: P/Cldy w/showers possible late. High 80.

Monday: Mo. Cldy w/showers & thunderstorms. High 66.

Thursday’s High in Atlantic was 78. Our Low this morning, 35. Last year on this date, the High in Atlantic was 76 and the Low was 40. The Record High on April 30th was 92 in 1926, and the Record was 19, in 1958.

Today: Partly cloudy. High near 70. NW @10-20 mph.

Tonight: Fair to P/Cldy. Low around 40. Winds light & variable.

Tomorrow: P/Cldy. High 73. S @ 10.

Saturday: Mostly sunny, windy & warmer. High 85.

Sunday: P/Cldy w/a chance of late afternoon showers. High near 80.

Wednesday’s High in Atlantic was 68. Our Low this morning, 40. We received .07″ rain yesterday. Last year on this date the High in Atlantic was 71 and the Low 39. The Record High on this date was 93 in 1987. The Record Low was 22 in 1958.

Today: Partly cloudy to cloudy w/scattered showers & thunderstorms. High 65. NE @ 10-15.

Tonight: Mostly cloudy w/scattered showers ending. Low 46. N @ 10.

Tomorrow: P/Cldy. High 65. NW @ 10-20.

Friday: P/Cldy. High 76.

Saturday: P/Cldy. High near 80.

Tuesday’s High in Atlantic was 85. Our Low this morning, 47. Last year on this date the High in Atlantic was 73 and the Low was 39. The Record High on this date was 94 in 1910. The Record Low was 26 in 1965.

Today: Partly cloudy w/isolated showers & thunderstorms late. High 80. SW-NW @ 10-20.

Tonight: Mostly cloudy w/shwrs & tstrms. Low 50. NE @ 5-10.

Tomorrow: P/Cldy to cldy w/showers & tstrms. High around 65. E @ 10-15.

Thursday: P/Cldy. High near 60.

Friday: P/Cldy. High 64.

Monday’s High in Atlantic was 89. Our Low was 55. Last year on this date the High in Atlantic was 81 and the Low 54. The Record High on this date was 90 in 1989. The Record Low was 23 in 1950.