325 AM CDT TUE AUG 21 2012

TODAY…SUNNY. HIGH IN THE UPPER 80S. SOUTHEAST WIND NEAR 5 MPH.

TONIGHT…MOSTLY CLEAR. LOW IN THE UPPER 50S. SOUTH WIND NEAR 10 MPH.

WEDNESDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. BREEZY. HIGH IN THE LOWER 90S. SOUTHWEST WIND 5 TO 15 MPH INCREASING TO 15 TO 20 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE MID 60S. SOUTH WIND 5 TO 15 MPH.

THURSDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. HIGH IN THE UPPER 80S. SOUTH WIND 10 TO 15 MPH.

THURSDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 50 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. LOW IN THE MID 60S.

FRIDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 30 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. HIGH IN THE LOWER 80S.

FRIDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. LOW IN THE UPPER 60S.

The (Podcast) Freese-Notis forecast for the KJAN listening area: Mon., Aug. 20 2012.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (930.0KB)

Subscribe: RSS

Record or near record Low temperatures were set across the state over the weekend. In Atlantic, Saturday’s 24-hour Low was 40-degrees, which clipped the old record of 41 set 115 years earlier, in 1897. The 24-hour low Sunday was 42-degrees, which was one-degree short of tying the low set in 1981. And, the 24-hour low for Friday, August 17th, was 40-degrees, two-degrees shy of tying the record for that date. The National Weather Service in Johnston said this (Monday) morning, that Des Moines had its longest cool period in over a year, as well.

The average temperature in the capital city has been normal or below for the last 10-days, and today will mark the 11th day. Officials say that’s in sharp contrast to the very warm temperatures of June and July. The average temperature in Des Moines, is now about one-degree below normal for the first 19-days of August. The last time there was a string of below normal temps in Des Moines longer than the current string, was the 15-day period from the 15th through the 29th of April, in 2011.

TODAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. PATCHY FOG THROUGH MID MORNING. HIGH IN THE LOWER 80S. SOUTHWEST WIND NEAR 5 MPH SHIFTING TO THE NORTHWEST IN THE AFTERNOON.

TONIGHT…MOSTLY CLEAR. LOW AROUND 50. EAST WIND AROUND 5 MPH.

TUESDAY…SUNNY. HIGH IN THE UPPER 80S. SOUTH WIND NEAR 5 MPH.

TUESDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLEAR. LOW IN THE UPPER 50S. SOUTH WIND AROUND 5 MPH.

WEDNESDAY…SUNNY. HIGH IN THE LOWER 90S. SOUTH WIND 5 TO 15 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 25 MPH.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE MID 60S.

THURSDAY…PARTLY SUNNY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. HIGH IN THE MID 80S.

THURSDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 40 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. LOW IN THE UPPER 60S.

FRIDAY…PARTLY SUNNY WITH A 30 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. HIGH IN THE LOWER 80S.

4-a.m. SUN AUG 19 2012

TODAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. AREAS OF FOG THROUGH MID MORNING. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGH IN THE MID 70S. NORTH WIND 5 TO 10 MPH. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 30 PERCENT.

TONIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY IN THE EVENING THEN BECOMING PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE LOWER 50S. NORTH WIND NEAR 5 MPH.

MONDAY…SUNNY. HIGH IN THE LOWER 80S. NORTH WIND NEAR 10 MPH.

MONDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLEAR. LOW IN THE UPPER 40S. EAST WIND NEAR 5 MPH.

TUESDAY...SUNNY. HIGH IN THE MID 80S. SOUTH WIND NEAR 10 MPH.

TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE UPPER 50S. HIGH IN THE MID 80S.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE MID 60S.

THURSDAY…PARTLY SUNNY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. HIGH IN THE LOWER 80S.

316 AM CDT SAT AUG 18 2012

TODAY…MOSTLY SUNNY IN THE MORNING THEN BECOMING MOSTLY CLOUDY. SCATTERED SHOWERS IN THE MORNING. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THE DAY. NUMEROUS SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGH IN THE MID 70S. SOUTH WIND NEAR 5 MPH SHIFTING TO THE NORTHEAST AROUND 5 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 60 PERCENT.

TONIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY THROUGH MIDNIGHT THEN BECOMING PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW AROUND 50. NORTH WIND NEAR 10 MPH.

SUNDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGH AROUND 80. NORTH WIND 5 TO 10 MPH.

SUNDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE LOWER 50S. NORTH WIND NEAR 10 MPH.

MONDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGH IN THE LOWER 80S. NORTHWEST WIND NEAR 5 MPH.

MONDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLEAR. LOW IN THE MID 50S.

TUESDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY…PARTLY CLOUDY. HIGH IN THE MID 80S. LOW AROUND 60.

Last month, Iowans saw an array of new record high temperatures set, but this morning, many of us woke up to the coolest weather since early June. Kevin Deitsch is a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Johnston. “Most of the record lows were confined to northwest Iowa,” Deitch says. Sioux City’s record low this morning was 43 degrees, Lamoni was at 50 and Webster City reached 44. The temperature in Webster City shattered the previous record of 46 set on this day in 1897.

In Atlantic, we bottomed out at 40-degrees on the thermometer at KJAN, which was just two-degrees shy of tying our record low set in 1897. KJAN is the official National Weather Service reporting and record-keeping station for Atlantic. For a welcome change of pace, Deitsch says Iowa’s weather will be pleasant for the weekend, the final weekend of the Iowa State Fair. “Dry weather we’ve had makes it pretty easy to cool down at night and to warm up during the day and that looks to be the trend as we head through this weekend,” he says. Highs will be in the 70s today through the weekend with lows in the 40s and 50s. There is no precipitation forecast for the next seven days.

An expert on droughts says the one that’s settled over Iowa and most of the region isn’t likely to go away anytime soon. Michael Hayes, director of the National Drought Mitigation Center, says a big ridge of high pressure has built up over the central U-S, diverting rain elsewhere. Hayes says Iowa’s long-range forecast calls for hot, dry conditions into October. “Maybe there’s some hope beyond that, but it’s a little bit early to say,” Hayes says. “So, that’s not the best news, certainly. Those are expectations. Those outlooks can change and we certainly hope that’s the case.”

Despite withering crops, brown lawns and shallow waterways across Iowa, Hayes says the drought’s affects are not deep yet, because this is a severe one-year event — at least so far. “If this were to extend into a second year or a third year, then we certainly would have more of those concerns,” Hayes says. While some have made comparisons to the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s, Hayes says this drought is most comparable to the 1988 drought. One unusual note, he says the drought which now grips the entire Corn Belt actually began this past winter.

Hayes says, “What’s been interesting about this drought is we had such warm temperatures over the wintertime and in the early spring that a lot of our soil moisture was already depleted and then that just allowed the temperatures to get pretty extreme across a large part of the central U.S.” The National Drought Mitigation Center is based at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

(Radio Iowa)

The (podcast) forecast for Atlantic and the area, Fri., Aug. 17th 2012, and weather data for Atlantic.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (1.0MB)

Subscribe: RSS

While we’ve seen a few breaks from the hot, dry weather, the worst drought in decades is stressing some of us out and calls to the Iowa Concern Hotline are rising. The service offers information referral, a friendly ear and legal advice, if necessary. Hotline director Margaret VanGinkle says questions lately are about how to handle household finances as prices rise due to the drought. “What happens if we have to pay more for milk and groceries and then the price of gas has gone up, too,” VanGinkle says. “Where am I going to find funds to pay for that when my budget is already pretty tight now?”

Forecasters don’t expect a break from the current weather pattern until October, but some fear the drought could continue well beyond this fall and into next year. Van Ginkle says callers are worried about the potential for a prolonged drought. She says, “If there is a shortage of rural water and they’re being asked to cut back on water with their livestock, how does that effect the operation especially on those really hot days, just a concern that might happen.”

Once known as the Rural Concern Hotline, the service was launched by the Iowa State University extension in 1985 to offer advice to struggling farmers during the Farm Crisis. As the name now implies, VanGinkle says the Iowa Concern Hotline is not exclusive to the agriculture community. The number is 800-447-1985. Phone calls are free and confidential.

(Radio Iowa)