Here are the weather stats for Atlantic as we end December and enter January: The Average High temperature in December (recorded at the KJAN Studios, the official National Weather Service site for Atlantic), was 33.9 degrees, which was one-degree warmer than the normal, average high for the month. The average Low was 14.1, which was slightly cooler than the norm of 14.4. The warmest day was on Dec. 25th, when we reached 53 degrees. The low was -17 on the 17th.

Precipitation for the month (melted snow, and rain) amounted to 1.35 inches, which was greater than the 1.11″ average. Snowfall for the month was 1.6 inches. Looking ahead to January, the normal High for the month averages out to 29 degrees, while the normal Low is 19. Precipitation in January usually amounts to just under an inch (.84″).

Total precipitation for 2016 in Atlantic amounted to 42.75 inches. The normal annual precipitation is 34.94.”

Today (New Year’s Day): Increasing clouds, with a high near 39. Wind chill values as low as 5. South wind 6 to 11 mph.
Tonight: A slight chance of drizzle or freezing drizzle between 11pm and midnight, then a chance of drizzle. Cloudy, with a low around 33. Southeast wind 8 to 10 mph.
Monday: A 40 percent chance of rain. Cloudy, with a high near 43. Southeast wind 5 to 9 mph becoming south southwest in the afternoon. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Monday Night: A chance of rain, mixing with freezing rain after 11pm, then gradually ending. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 21. Blustery, with a west southwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming northwest 12 to 17 mph in the evening. Winds could gust as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Tuesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 22. Windy, with a northwest wind 17 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.
Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 6. Blustery.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 17.

AREA COUNTIES: SAC-CRAWFORD-CARROLL-AUDUBON-GUTHRIE-DALLAS-CASS-ADAIR-MADISON- ADAMS-UNION-TAYLOR-RINGGOLD….341 AM CST SUN JAN 1 2017

TODAY AND TONIGHT: SPOTTY FREEZING DRIZZLE OR LIGHT FREEZING RAIN IS POSSIBLE LATE TONIGHT NORTH OF INTERSTATE 80. LITTLE TO NO ICE ACCUMULATION IS EXPECTED BUT THERE MAY BE SLICK SPOTS ON SOME ROADS.

MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY: SPOTTY FREEZING DRIZZLE OR LIGHT FREEZING RAIN IS POSSIBLE ON MONDAY MORNING NORTH OF INTERSTATE 80. LITTLE TO NO ICE ACCUMULATION IS EXPECTED BUT THERE MAY BE SLICK SPOTS ON SOME ROADS.

AREA COUNTIES: MONONA-HARRISON-SHELBY-POTTAWATTAMIE-MILLS-MONTGOMERY-FREMONT- PAGE COUNTIES….405 AM CST SUN JAN 1 2017

TODAY AND TONIGHT: THERE IS A CHANCE FOR LIGHT SNOW…POSSIBLY MIXING WITH LIGHT RAIN…THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING IN NORTHEAST NEBRASKA. ANY SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE LIGHT WITH ONLY A DUSTING POSSIBLE. AREAS OF FREEZING DRIZZLE ARE POSSIBLE OVER MUCH OF EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA FROM LATE EVENING THROUGH LATE TONIGHT. AREAS NORTH AND NORTHWEST OF INTERSTATE 80 STAND THE BEST CHANCE OF SEEING BELOW FREEZING TEMPERATURES WHERE A COUPLE HUNDREDTHS OF AN INCH OF ICING IS POSSIBLE. ALONG AND SOUTH OF THE INTERSTATE TEMPERATURES ARE FORECAST TO REMAIN ABOVE FREEZING…SO THE RISK OF ANY ICING IS LOW.

MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY: THE POTENTIAL FOR FREEZING DRIZZLE WILL CONTINUE THROUGH MONDAY MORNING NORTH AND NORTHWEST OF INTERSTATE 80. HOWEVER TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO CLIMB TO ABOVE FREEZING BEFORE NOON…SO ICING SHOULD REMAIN RATHER LIGHT IF ANY. BEHIND THIS STORM SYSTEM…COLDER AIR WILL SPILL INTO THE REGION FOR MUCH OF THE WEEK WITH LOWS IN THE SINGLE DIGITS AND HIGHS IN THE TEENS OR LOWER 20S. THE COLDEST WIND CHILLS OF 5 TO 15 BELOW ARE FORECAST WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY MORNINGS.

Skyscan Forecast   Saturday, December 31, 2016   Richard Garuckas

Today: Partly Sunny. High 31. NW @ 10-20.

Tonight: Mostly clear. Low 20. SW @ 5-10.

Sunday (New Year’s Day): Increasing clouds. Chance of afternoon showers. High 38. SSE @ 10-15.

Monday: Cloudy. Chance of showers. High 45.

Tuesday: Mix of sun and clouds. Colder. High 28.

Wednesday: Mostly sunny. High 17.

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Today: Partly cloudy. High near 47. SW @ 10-15.

Tonight: P/Cldy. Low 28. NW winds 10-20.

Tomorrow: P/Cldy. High 37. NW @ 10-20.

New Year’s Eve: Mostly clear. Low 19.

Sunday (News Year’s Day): P/Cloudy to Cldy. High 40.

Sunday night: Cldy w/a 40% chance of rain or snow. Low 31.

Monday: Cloudy w/a 50% chance of rain or snow mixed. High around 38.

Thursday’s High in Atlantic was 42. Our 24-Hour Low (ending at 7-a.m. today) was 16. Last year on this date, our High in Atlantic was 25 and the low was 1. The Record High in Atlantic on this date was 64 in 2004. The Record Low was -22 in 1917.

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.