w/Kate Olson.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.0MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Experts say river levels are so low the state’s fish population is stressed — and conditions could cause more fish kills. Meteorologist Jim Lee at the National Weather Service office in Des Moines says there’s not been enough rainfall to replenish rivers.

In many areas, river levels are so low canoeing and kayaking is not recommended because boats would scrape the river bottom. Lee says some of Iowa’s river basins are at 10 percent of normal capacity.

The first frost happens across Iowa during the first half of October and experts say if lakes and waterways were to freeze at these low levels, oxygen levels will be lower — and fish could suffer. Lee says it doesn’t appear weather patterns will change in the next couple of weeks or perhaps even longer.

In July, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources reported nearly 21-thousand Shovelnose Sturgeon had died along a 60 mile stretch of the Des Moines River in southeast Iowa. D-N-R biologists determined the fish kill was caused by low water levels and high-water temperatures. It was the largest fish kill in the region since 2012. In late August, the D-N-R estimates up to five-thousand fish were killed along a 74-mile stretch of the Upper Iowa River in Winneshiek County.

Today: Sunny with a high near 78.  Light and variable wind.

Tonight: Mostly clear with a low around 51.  South southeast wind around 5 mph.

Thursday: Sunny with a high near 79.  South wind 5 to 10 mph.

Friday: A slight chance of showers.  Partly sunny with a high near 76.  Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph.

Saturday: Mostly sunny with a high near 77.

Sunday: Sunny with a high near 74.

Fall migration is in full swing and hundreds of millions of songbirds are predicted to pass through the Midwest over the next few nights.  You can help these birds to migrate safely by turning off the lights at your home or business, especially between 11:00 pm and 6:00 am to help them migrate safely.

Over 80% of North America’s migratory birds migrate at night, and artificial light can impact their journey.  Migrating at night has many advantages for a bird.  Night skies are calmer and cooler than daytime skies which makes their very long journeys easier and lowers their risk of overheating.  Nocturnal migrants are also better able to avoid predators.  Many birds navigate using the stars and moon as a compass, but light pollution can interrupt this navigation.  Light pollution from homes, business, sports complexes, and industrial areas often disorients birds or attracts them to the light, slowing their migration and threatening their survival.  Light pollution is especially dangerous because it causes many birds to collide with buildings during migration, resulting in hundreds of millions of bird fatalities in North America each year.  Light pollution is increasing by 2% each year, but citizens and their communities can help reduce light pollution and in turn protect migrating birds.

Here are a few actions you can take to reduce light pollution and protect migratory birds:

• Turn off non-essential nighttime lights and use timers or motion detectors on essential lights to keep the usage to a minimum. (This helps save energy and money too!)
• Changing the color of your lights from cool (green and blue) to warm (red and yellow) has been shown to reduce disturbances to migrating birds. (Tip: Light color is measured in kelvins- the lower the number, the warmer the light.)
• Diverting lights downwards using lighting shields can help stop excess light from leaking into the night sky.
• Talk with your local government officials and community organizations and businesses about light ordinances or ways to reduce light pollution as a community, especially during spring and fall migration times.
• Visit https://www.audubon.org/lights-out-program to learn more!

A vice president for Summit Carbon Solutions says rejected requests to build the company’s carbon pipeline in North and South Dakota should not impact its pursuit of a construction permit in Iowa. Micah (MIKE-uh) Rorie (ROHR-ee) is in charge of land acquisition for the company and testified Tuesday at an Iowa Utilities Board hearing in Fort Dodge.

John Murray, an attorney for property owners who don’t want the pipeline on their land, quizzed Rorie about Monday’s permit denial in South Dakota.

Murray, an attorney from Storm Lake, also asked Rorie about last month’s denial of a permit to extend Summit’s pipeline through NORTH Dakota, where the company plans to store its liquid carbon underground.

Rorie says over 12-hundred Iowa landowners have voluntarily signed easements that give Summit access to over 33-hundred parcels of land along its proposed route through Iowa. The company is asking the Iowa Utilities Board for eminent domain authority to force 469 Iowa landowners who object to the project to sign property easements.

The number of train cars carrying grain across the state dropped in July.  The D-O-T’s Stuart Anderson told the Transportation Commission July continues what has been a downward trend.

Commissioner Ray Gaesser (Gas-er) of Corning is a grain farmer and says exports have slowed down substantially.

Gaesser says one of the factors is competition from South America.

Gaesser says production was down last year too, and the carryover of supply of corn is up 30 percent from one year ago.  Hauling grain on water is also an issue as Anderson says water levels have been dropping since June on the Mississippi River and are expected to continue to drop.

Anderson says that requires more barges to haul the same amount of grain — which causes other issues.

He says this year could end up being as challenging as it was last year when there were significant impacts on the transport and barge rates.

The heat and drought have continued to cause Iowa crops to deteriorate. The U-S-D-A crop report out Monday shows the corn condition declined by three percentage points in the last week where 46 percent is rated in good to excellent condition. Soybeans took a bigger hit, dropping five percentage points to average 44 percent in good to excellent condition. Dolph Ivener found issues in his cornfield in western Iowa that started with brown leaves.

Ivener estimates big swings in yields from 200 bushels per acre on his farms with heavier rainfall to around 40 in spots stifled by a third year of drought.

The crop report shows that 38 percent of the corn crop has reached maturity, which is one week ahead of last year and six days ahead of normal.

Farmers in Ukraine are now raising hogs thanks to a little help from Iowa State University. Justin Brown, an I-S-U professor of veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine, is leading a series of webinars just for Ukrainian farmers. Due to the prolonged war with Russia, Brown says corn producers in Ukraine aren’t able to export much, if any, of their grain.

Brown says the response to the I-S-U webinars has been very good. He presents them early in the morning and they air in Ukraine around the lunch hour.

Brown prepares his presentation slides in English and sends them to the president of the Association of Ukrainian Pig Breeders, who translates them into Ukrainian, while the lectures themselves are dubbed in that language for the Ukranian farmers.

Those questions are translated live, along with his answers. The last of the webinars will be presented this month.

Today:  Sunny with a high near 75.  Calm wind becoming west northwest around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Tonight:  Mostly clear with a low around 47.  Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm after midnight.
Wednesday:  Sunny with a high near 76.  Light and variable wind.
Thursday:  Sunny with a high near 77.  South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Friday:  A chance of showers in the afternoon.  Partly sunny with a high near 78.
Saturday:  Mostly sunny with a high near 74.

Parts of Iowa got rain Sunday evening into today (Monday), but the state climatologist says the rain won’t put much of a dent in Iowa’s longstanding drought.  Justin Glisan says rainfall amounts ranged from on quarter to half an inch in the northern parts of the state, to an inch or more farther south.

Glisan says northeast Iowa just had its tenth-driest summer, and would need six-to-eight inches of rain above the average to make up for this year’s rainfall deficits.

Glisan says the current drought hasn’t been quite as bad as droughts in 2012 or 1988, because temperatures this summer was cooler overall than those two years.  Glisan made his comments on the Iowa Public Radio Program “River to River.”