(Radio Iowa) – March came in like a lamb, but State Climatologist Justin Glisten says as we move from winter to spring it could bring just about anything. “We can see all types of weather. We can see severe weather, we can see snowfall. We’ve had it all. So as a transition month, who knows, it’s a flip of the coin sometimes,” Glisan says. Glisan says March could help improve some of the dry conditions across the state. “As a state, we typically see slightly under two inches, that’s the 30 year average. And this varies from two-point-three inches in southeast Iowa, all the way up to one-point-six inches in northwest Iowa. So the wetter part of the state is the southern, southeastern (areas),” Glisan says.

Glisan says there is some optimism March could be wetter than normal. “If you look at the short-term outlooks getting into first half of March and even the full March outlook from the Climate Prediction Center, we are showing higher probabilities of warmer and wetter conditions possible,” he says.

April, May and June are generally the wettest months of the year in Iowa.

(Des Moines, IA) – The National Weather Service says the first severe weather threat of the year is possible Thursday and Friday. Officials say the threat encompasses most of Iowa, with the first round of marginal, isolated severe storms coming late Thursday night (mainly after midnight) across western and central Iowa. The main feature of the storms will be penny- to half-dollar sized hail (.75-1.25″ in diameter), along with winds of up to 60-mph.

The second round of storms Friday evening brings a slight risk of damaging winds (50+mph), large hail and scattered tornadoes, with the threat area covering most of the State, with the exception of the northwest and northern tier counties, where there is a marginal risk of severe storms. The east/northeast parts of the State face the greatest risk of severe storms, according to the latest information.

Be sure to have multiple ways of being informed when storms threaten, including a weather radio, and prepare to take shelter when warnings are issued.

Today: Cloudy. A high near 51. E/NE winds around 5 mph becoming calm in the afternoon.
Tonight: Mostly cloudy w/a chance of drizzle, mainly between 9pm and 2am. A low around 38.
Tomorrow: Mostly sunny, with a high near 64. S/SE winds 5-10 mph in the afternoon.
Tom. Night: A chance of showers & thunderstorms. Low around 49.  New rainfall amounts between 1/4 & 1/2 inch are possible.
Friday: Showers & possible thunderstorms. Breezy. High near 67. New rainfall amounts between 1/4 & 1/2 inch are once again possible.
Friday Night: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Low around 30.
Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 51.
Saturday Night: Clear, with a low around 33.
Sunday: Sunny & breezy, with a high near 65.

Tuesday’s High in Atlantic was 42 degrees. We received a Trace of rain (<.01). The Low was 36. Last year on this date (March 4th), the High in Atlantic was 56, and the Low was 21. The Record High for this date was 78 in 1921, the record Low was -17 in 1978. Sunrise: 6:50; Sunset: 6:14.

(Radio Iowa) – State climatologist Justin Glisan says February continued what has been a dry winter. “Preliminary liquid equivalent total, so melted snow, melted sleet in the rainfall that we saw, only about four-tenths of an inch, and that’s about eight tenths of an inch below average,” Glisan says. He says it will end up around the 17th driest February in So if you look at 154 years of records. Glisan says February did not have the snow drought we saw in January.

“Overall, about three-point-eight inches of snow on the ground, so three inches below average. So not exceedingly significant snowfall departures, but overall through winter, meteorological winter, December, January, February, as a state, we’re about eight inches below average,” Glisan says. He says the meteorological winter saw much more snow than last year, which ranked 4th for the least amount of snow on the ground. Glisan says the overall snowfall season was a little behind normal. “Starts in October, runs through May, and we’ve even had snow in June. We still have deficits in snowfall, but not as high as what we saw in meteorological winter,” he says. Glisan says the areas that got less snow, like southeastern Iowa and also northwestern Iowa, saw drought conditions increase.

“Coupled with less rainfall and basically no snowpack on the ground, you deplete soil moisture profiles, topsoil particularly, and that’s where you start to see these drier conditions reemerge,” he says. Glisan says temperatures in February were about seven degrees above normal, which provided the benefit of warming of the top level of soil, allowing moisture to sink in. “We did remove shallow frost. So with that shallow frost removal, we did see infiltration of melting snow, but also any rainfall that we got,” he says. “So at least in the shallow profile, we have seen some improvement, particularly you look at a soil moisture map, bullseye right over central Iowa, where we’re right near normal for soil moisture this time of year.”

Glisan says in the southeast and eastern Iowa, there was less overall moisture and the soil profiles remain dry.

Today: Mostly cloudy w/a chance of drizzle this morning. A high near 49. Light and variable wind becoming NE @ 5-10 mph in the afternoon.
Tonight: A chance of drizzle, mainly after 11pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 36.
Wednesday: A chance of drizzle before noon, then a chance of rain after noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 52. East wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the afternoon.
Wednesday Night: A 40% chance of rain. A low around 35.
Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 63.
Thursday Night: A chance of rain, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm after midnight. Low around 48.
Friday: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. High near 70. Breezy.

Monday’s High in Atlantic was 49 degrees. The Low was 29. Last year on this date (March 3rd), the High in Atlantic was 60, and the Low was 38. The Record High for this date was 79 in 1983, the record Low was -11 in 2014. Sunrise: 6:53; Sunset: 6:12.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Weather data for Atlantic during the month of February, 2026 (Compiled here at KJAN – the official National Weather Service reporting site), shows we were 12 degrees warmer than normal for a High, at 48 degrees on average, and 3 degrees warmer than normal for a Low, at 18 degrees. The warmest day last month was 70 on Feb. 9th. Our coolest morning was -7 degrees on the 22nd.

Snowfall amounted 5.3 inches, which was a liquid equivalent of .34,” which was a deficit of .62″ as compared to the historical February average.

Looking ahead, we find the average High temperature for the month of March in Atlantic, is 48 degrees, while the average Low is 26. Precipitation typically amounts to 2.38.”

Check back with us during the first week of April, 2026, to see how our actual weather data compared to the historical averages.

Today: Cloudy, with a high near 46. East wind 5 to 10 mph becoming south southeast in the afternoon.
Tonight: A chance of drizzle, mainly after 1am. Cloudy, with a low around 34. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Tomorrow: A chance of drizzle. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 50. Light and variable wind becoming NW @ 5-10.
Tom. Night: A 50% chance of rain. A low around 34. New precipitation amounts between 1/10″ & 1/4″ possible.
Wednesday: A 40% chance of rain; Partly sunny. A high near 50. New precipitation < 1/10″.
Wednesday Night: A 40% chance of rain. A low around 35.
Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 64.

Sunday’s High in Atlantic was 37 degrees. The Low was 19. Last year on this date (March 2nd), the High in Atlantic was 50, and the Low was 17. The Record High for this date was 76 in 1992, the record Low was -12 in 2014. Sunrise: 6:54; Sunset: 6:11.

Today: A 20 percent chance of snow after 5pm. Cloudy, with a high near 35. Wind chill values as low as 10. East wind 7 to 13 mph.
Tonight: A 20 percent chance of snow before 3am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 25. East southeast wind 6 to 9 mph.
Monday: Cloudy, with a high near 45. Southeast wind 6 to 9 mph.
Monday Night: Rain likely, mainly after midnight. Cloudy, with a low around 35. Southeast wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Tuesday: A chance of rain before noon, then a chance of showers after noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 48. East northeast wind 6 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Tuesday Night: A chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 9pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 36. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Wednesday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms before noon, then a chance of rain after noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 52. Chance of precipitation is 40%.

Today: Mostly cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing, with a high near 48. E/NE winds 10-to 20 mph.
Tonight: Increasing clouds, with a low around 17. NE winds around 10 mph. Wind chill values as low as 10.
Sunday: A 30% chance of snow after noon. A high near 32. Winds E @ 10. Wind chill values as low as 5. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Sunday Night: A 30% chance of snow, mainly before midnight. A low around 22. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Monday: A chance of rain and snow between noon and 3pm, then a chance of rain after 3pm. A high near 40. Winds S @ 5-15 mph w/gusts to near 20 mph. Little or no snow accumulation expected.
Monday Night: Rain. Low around 30. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
Tuesday: A 40% chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 46.

(Radio Iowa) – Officials say there’s a serious risk of fast-spreading wildfires again today (Friday) as much of Iowa will see unseasonably high temperatures and gusty winds amidst very dry vegetation. Red Flag Warnings are posted for some two dozen counties, including five counties in northwest Iowa, across much of the southern two tiers of counties, and into eastern Iowa. Meteorologist Jim Lee, at the National Weather Service, says an abrupt temperature shift is coming.

“We’ve got temperatures in the 60s in parts of western and southern Iowa, maybe even pushing 70 near the Missouri border,” Lee says, “but then one day later, on Saturday morning, we’re looking for snow across far northern and northeastern Iowa, so rapid changes on the way.” A Winter Weather Advisory is being posted for several northeastern Iowa counties, while Lee says the possibilities of snow will shift to the south for the latter half of the weekend. “We do have some snow chances on Sunday, yes, but it looks like most of that will be more across about the southern half of Iowa,” Lee says. “Up in northern Iowa, very little to no snow on Sunday, but down in southern Iowa, near the Missouri border, some places could get some light accumulations.”

The long-range forecast shows temperatures warming into the 40s and 50s next week for much of the state.