Tornadoes can spin out of the sky during any month of the year in Iowa, but now that we’re into August, twisters are becoming much less likely. Meteorologist Rod Donavon, at the National Weather Service, says Iowa is wrapping up the season with fewer tornadoes than usual. “Certainly, we did start off fairly quickly in 2017, we did have a couple of tornado events, one in February and another one in March, that accounted for several tornadoes,” Donavon says. “We’re already sitting at 40 tornadoes right now. The average in Iowa is mid- to upper-40s so we’re pretty close to average, even though we’ve been fairly quiet the last month or two.”
An E-F-one tornado hit McGregor in northeast Iowa on July 19th, causing widespread damage in the historic downtown. The biggest risk going forward, Donavon says, will likely be hail and severe winds, not tornadoes. “We’re going back to another dry period and we’ll really start tailing off,” Donavon says. “Typically, in severe weather season, we tend to go more damaging wind events as we get more into July and August and our peak tornado season really ends by mid- to late-June, so, we’re starting to get out of tornado season.”
Last year, Iowa reported 43 tornadoes.
(Radio Iowa)
Today: Partly cloudy. High 88. Variable breeze @ 5-10.
Tonight: Mostly Cloudy w/isolated shwrs. Low 64. SE @ 5-10.
Tomorrow: Cldy w/scattered shwrs & tstrms. High 76. NW @ 10-20.
Friday: P/Cldy. High 78.
Saturday: Mo. Cldy w/scattered shwrs. High 76. .
Tuesday’s High in Atlantic was 86. Our Low this morning was 59. Last year on this date, the High in Atlantic was 83 and the low was 64. The Record High in Atlantic on this date was 103 in 1930. The Record Low for this date was 42 in 1907.
The Month of July in Atlantic, was warmer than normal, both on the high and low side of the thermometer, and much drier. Weather statistics compiled for the month at the KJAN studios (The official National Weather Service reporting station for Atlantic), show the Average High in July was 89 degrees, which was 3 degrees warmer than the norm. The Average Low was 64, which was 1 degree warmer than the norm. Rainfall for the month was 2.09 inches, well below the 4.62 inches we should have expected.
The hottest day of the month was 97, on July 21st. The coolest mornings recorded were on the 23rd and 30th, when we dipped to 55 degrees. The coolest daytime high was 77, on July 26th. The month of August, in Atlantic, typically brings a High of around 83, and a Low of 61. Rainfall for the month averages out to be 3.88 inches.
Today: Partly cloudy. High 86. Variable breeze @ 5-10.
Tonight: P/Cldy w/isolated shwrs late. Low 65. S @ 10-15.
Tomorrow: P/Cldy w/scattered shwrs & tstrms late. High 87. S @ 10-15.
Thursday: Scatt. Morning showers & thunderstorms. High 78.
Friday: P/Cldy. High 78.
Monday’s High in Atlantic was 84. Our Low this morning 56. Last year on this date, the High in Atlantic was 84 and the low was 64. The Record High in Atlantic on this date was 102 in 1897. The Record Low for this date was 42 in 1898.
Today: Partly cloudy. High 84. SE @ 5-10.
Tonight: P/Cldy. Low 58. Winds light & variable.
Tomorrow: P/Cldy. High 86. W @ 10-15.
Wednesday: P/Cldy w/isolated afternoon showers & thunderstorms. High 86.
Thursday: Mostly Cldy w/scattered shwrs & tstrms. High 82.
Sunday’s High in Atlantic was 85. Our Low this morning (as of 5:15-a.m.) was 55. Last year on this date, the High in Atlantic was 82 and the low was 68. The Record High in Atlantic on this date was 104 in 1955. The Record Low for this date was 39 in 1971.
TODAY…Clear to Partly Cloudy. , High 80. SE 5 mph.
TONIGHT…Clear, Low 58. SE 5 mph.
MONDAY…Partly cloudy.High 81. S 5 mph.
TUESDAY…Partly cloudy in the afternoon.High 84. S 3 mph.
WEDNESDAY…Light rain in the afternoon and overnight.High 82. NE 4 mph.
THURSDAY…A 30% chance of rain until the evening. High 73.
Iowa now has around two-thirds of the state in some sort of dry pattern running from the northwest to the southeast corner. The Iowa D-N-R’s Tim Hall says the state is in a little better shape than the last time we had widespread drought conditions in 2012. He says we went into that year with very little reserve in groundwater after a dry 2011. “At least in 2016 we crossed over into 2017 after a really wet fall and early winter. So, things are not as dramatically bad this year — primarily because we started the year in much better shape,” Hall explains.
He says that is not a reason to dismiss what’s happening now. “In general, there’s a lot of folks in the state that need to be paying attention to the soil moisture conditions and the groundwater condition, and being aware that things are pretty dry,” Hall says. Hall says we have been well behind normal July rainfall totals in parts of the state and relief isn’t expected anytime soon. “There doesn’t appear to be a real significant chance for broad rains over the next couple of weeks,” Hall says. “So a couple of dry weeks, some really hot temperatures, the vegetation is pretty active and it tends to pull a lot of moisture out of the soil as it grows. So, the pieces are in place for things to get certainly not better over the next couple of weeks — and certainly perhaps deteriorate even more.”
South-central Iowa has been the driest part of the state thus far, but Hall says northwest Iowa has the fewest options for drawing groundwater, and they need to keep an eye on the conditions.
(Radio Iowa)
Today: Mo. Sunny. High 82. E @ 5.
Tonight: Mo. Clear. Low 59. E/NE @ 5
Sunday: Mo. Sunny. 81. E/SE @ 5
Sunday night: Mo. Clear. Low 59.
Monday: Mo. Sunny. High 83. S @ 5.
Tuesday: Sunny. High 85.
Friday’s High in Atlantic was 86. Our Low this morning was 61. Last year on this date, the High in Atlantic was 76 and the low was 56. The Record High in Atlantic on this date was 102 in 1917. The Record Low for this date was 46 in 1952.
Today: Areas of fog this morning; Partly to Mostly sunny. High 86. E/NE @ 10-15.
Tonight: Mostly clear. Low 59. Winds light & variable.
Tomorrow: Mostly sunny. High 85. E/SE @ 10-15.
Sunday: P/Cldy. High 86.
Monday: P/Cldy. High 87.
Thursday’s High in Atlantic was 85. Our Low this morning was 59. Last year on this date, the High in Atlantic was 81 and the low was 60. The Record High in Atlantic on this date was 105 in 1935. The Record Low for this date was 43 in 2013.
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