(Radio Iowa) – There’s smoke over Iowa again from the Canadian wildfires, but National Weather Service Meteorologist, Brad Small says that smoke is high up and not causing problems. “We’ve seen a little bit over northwest and west-central Iowa in the midday here. It’s much worse to our north however from the eastern Dakotas into Minnesota it’s actually getting down to the surface there where we’ve had visibility dropped to a few miles in places,” Small says. He says a variety of factors impact how low the smoke hangs in the air.
“Smoke density wind speed thermodynamic properties of the atmosphere all come into play it’s fairly rare to get smoked down to the surface this far removed from the fires down here in Iowa,” Small says, “but it can’t happen and hopefully in this case it’s all stay to our north and northeast.” Small says the smoke issues were bigger in New York and other eastern states recently because they are closer to the source. He says things could change in Iowa.
“The biggest concerns that looks like for the next couple of days are going to be northeast of us, the smoke might get down to the surface in far northeast Iowa,” he says. Small says the rest of the state shouldn’t see any low hanging smoke.
The D-N-R’s air quality measurements show air quality concerns only in a small area in the northwest and southwest corners of the state.
Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 86. West wind around 6 mph.
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 59. Southwest wind around 6 mph.
Tomorrow: Sunny, with a high near 89. Southwest wind 3 to 8 mph.
Friday: Mostly sunny w/a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. High near 87.
Friday Night: A 50% chance of showers and thunderstorms. Low around 63.
Saturday: A 60% chance of showers and thunderstorms, otherwise partly sunny, with a high near 82.
Tuesday’s High in Atlantic was 84. The Low was 57. Last year on this date, the High in Atlantic was 96 and the Low was 66. The Record High was 97in 1987, and the Record Low was 41in 1933. Sunrise is at 5:45. Sunset is at 8:55.
Today: Sunny, with a high near 83. West wind around 11 mph.
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 55. West wind 6 to 9 mph.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 86. West northwest wind around 6 mph.
Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 88.
Thursday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 62.
Friday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 85.
Monday’s High in Atlantic was 77. The Low was 47. Last year on this date, the High in Atlantic was 100 and the Low was 79. The Record High was 100 in 2022, and the Record Low was 37 in 1906. Sunrise is at 5:45. Sunset is at 8:54.
(Radio Iowa) – This week’s Iowa Crop and Weather report from the U-S-D-A rates 60 percent of Iowa topsoil either short or very short of moisture. State Climatologist Justin Glisan says abnormally dry conditions have expanded in the past two weeks. “In those more pervasive and dry areas, we’ve seen precipitation deficits really stack up,” Glisan says. “This is reflected in lower stream flows, but also diminishment in soil moisture.”
By last Thursday, 99 percent of the state reached some stage of drought or has been abnormally dry for 30 to 60 days according to the U-S-D-A’s Iowa Drought Monitor. Glisan says it appears surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific Ocean are rising — and that means a change in the weather pattern for thunderstorms that form over the ocean and later sweep into Iowa.
“I think there is good news on the horizon,” Glisan says. Weather models indicate the swing into the wetter pattern could arrive in Iowa by July, according to Glisan, just when corn and soybeans hit a major stage in development. “We need timely rainfalls throughout the teeth of the growing season,” Glisan says, “so seeing this potential shift into El Nino, which we are in now, and the potential for the weather patterns that set up, I am pretty confident that we are not going to see any yield loss because of early planting.”
Glisan made his comments during a recent appearance on “Iowa Press” on Iowa P-B-S. According to the U-S-D-A, the development of Iowa’s soybean crop is nine days ahead of normal and the corn crop is a week ahead of last year.
(Radio Iowa) – Some Iowa cities set record low temperatures this (Monday) morning. The National Weather Service in La Crosse received a report that the temperature fell to 35 in Elkader in northeast Iowa. There was a record low in Cedar Rapids of 40 degrees. It dipped to 41 in Mason City and Ottumwa, also records for this date. The low in Atlantic (43) fell five-degrees short of tying the record (38) set in 1903.
Alexis Jimenez is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in central Iowa. “We saw low to mid 40s throughout much of the state,” Jimenez says. Temperatures for the rest of the day will be in the 70s. “It’ll be really a perfect day weather wise. You can’t get much better. You can’t ask for more in the middle of June, but we will see a warming trend starting tomorrow,” she says. “We’ll see temperatures climb into the 80s and then we’ll see temperatures close to 90 Thursday.”
The record low in Iowa for this date was set in 1903. The temperature fell to 30 degrees in Fayette according to federal records from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Today: Sunny, with a high near 75. West northwest wind 3 to 8 mph.
Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 51. West southwest wind 5 to 7 mph.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 82. West northwest wind 8 to 11 mph.
Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 86.
Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 88.
Sunday’s High in Atlantic was 71. Our Low this morning, 43. Last year on this date, the High in Atlantic was 90 and the Low was 69. The Record High was 95 in 1892, and the Record Low was 38 in 1903. Sunrise is at 5:45. Sunset is at 8:54.
Today: Gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 72. Breezy, with a north northeast wind 13 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph.
Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 46. North wind 5 to 11 mph.
Monday: Sunny, with a high near 75. Light north northwest wind becoming northwest 5 to 9 mph in the morning.
Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 52. West wind 6 to 8 mph.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 81.
Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 57.
Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 86.
Saturday’s High in Atlantic was 83. Our Low this morning, 61. We received .41″ rain yesterday. Last year on this date, the High in Atlantic was 87 and the Low was 63. The Record High was 99 in 1892, and the Record Low was 36 in 1903. Sunrise was at 5:45. Sunset is at 8:53.
Today: A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 7am, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm between 7am and 8am, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 8am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 80. Southeast wind 5 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.
Tonight: Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly before 8pm. Cloudy, with a low around 58. Northeast wind 7 to 11 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.
Sunday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 10am. Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 73. Breezy, with a north northeast wind 13 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph.
Monday: Sunny, with a high near 76.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 82.
Friday’s High in Atlantic was 79. The Low was 56. Last year on this date the High in Atlantic was 80 and the Low was 60. The Record High on this date was 104 in 1933. The Record Low was 40 in 1966. Sunrise was at 5:45. Sunset is at 8:53.
(Radio Iowa) – Iowa is back in the “Drought Watch” category on the system put together last year to keep tabs on the situation. D-N-R Hydrology coordinator, Tim Hall, works with other state agencies in assessing the issue. “We take a number of factors and look at them together. And we we decide whether a region of the state is normal, drought watch, drought warning, or drought emergency,” Hall says. He says the drought watch is similar to a thunderstorm or tornado watch.
“Which is really just a call for people to be very careful and pay attention. Because things are looking on the dry side,” he says, “and right now they’re getting a little bit worse all the time. So we’re just trying to keep an eye out and work with folks to make sure everybody has the information they need.” Hall says the state is also seeing the start of what could be a “flash drought,” or rapid increase in drought conditions in some areas. “Particularly in the eastern part of the state where things just got really dry really fast. We saw the U-S Drought Monitor pop up with severe drought in in parts of northeast Iowa and southeast Iowa. So you know, we were kind of on the mend there for a while and then March and particularly April and May have just turned dry on us and they have not done us any favors,” Hall says.
He says there are some indications the conditions might change and bring more rain, and June is normally the wettest month in the state. Hall says until we see more rain, everyone should do what they can to stop water waste by fixing any leaky fixtures. “Which is which is about as pure and simple wasting water as you can get. If you’re just dribbling it down the drain, you’re using resources to pump the water, to treat the water to get it to your house. And if you’re just letting it go down the drain, that’s an absolute waste of resources,” Hall says. “So figure out how to get those leaking faucets fixed and leaking toilets fixed.”
Hall says the situation may soon call for other measures as well. “Unfortunately, it looks like we’re getting into a situation where we’re going to have to start to remind people that water conservation is a necessary thing,” he says. “And we’re going to have to try to work on that a little bit in the state as we get through these dry, these dry weeks here.”
Hall says the best case scenario would be for normal June rainfall to return and turn the drought conditions around. But he says we have to be prepared if that does not happen.
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