Warm, windy weather — and a lack of rain — are raising drought concerns in Iowa. The latest U-S-D-A report indicates about half of Iowa farm fields are short or very short of topsoil moisture. Iowa Ag Secretary Bill Northey says it’s worrysome. “Ironically northwest Iowa was probably our driest area going into spring and they’ve gotten rains,” Northey says. “But the balance of the state is really short of moisture and normally we don’t expect that dry weather until later in the season.” Dry conditions in late May and early June put a “unique kind of stress” on crops, according to Northey.

Corn, for example, is showing inadequate root growth.”When the crop is so short of moisture in that top soil, it actually is hard for those roots to find moisture and, therefore, to grow,” Northey says. “You would think normally…dry weather will cause those roots to go down and try to find moisture, but in some of our areas it’s so dry, if it’s not finding moisture, it actually stops those roots from growing.” While corn in some areas has weak root systems, some soybeans are just sitting in the ground and haven’t sprouted. “We do plant soybeans shallower. We plant them later and if you do a little bit of tillage, it dries out the top, especially since some of our areas of the state haven’t had rain for three weeks or at least any sizable rain and some very dry weather in the last three or four weeks as well.” The other problem is the soybean sprouts, but then dies because of lack of moisture.

Fifty-one percent of Iowa farm fields are “short” or “very short” of topsoil moisture according to the latest U-S-D-A report. The rating for subsoil moisture is 42 percent “short” or “very short.” The driest section of the state is south central Iowa, where 83 percent of the topsoil is “short” or “very short” of moisture.

Link to the U-S Drought Monitor website: http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

(O. Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)

Here’s the (podcast) weather forecast for Atlantic & the KJAN listening area, from Freese-Notis meteorologist Harvey Freese, and the weather stats for Atlantic, from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson….

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Today: A 20 percent chance of showers after 1pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 67. East northeast wind between 7 and 9 mph.

Tonight: A chance of showers and thunderstorms, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm after 1am. Low around 50. East wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

Thursday: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Cloudy, with a high near 56. Northeast wind between 10 and 14 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.

Thursday Night: A chance of showers. Cloudy, with a low around 47. North northwest wind between 7 and 14 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 67. North northwest wind between 6 and 8 mph.

Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 52.

Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 77.

Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 60.

Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 85.

Here’s the (podcast) Freese-Notis forecast for Atlantic & the KJAN listening area, and the weather stats for Atlantic.

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 HULL, Iowa (AP) – Many in northwest Iowa spent Monday cleaning up after a severe thunderstorm hit Sioux County.  The Sioux County Sheriff’s Office says trees, branches and power lines were knocked down during the storm as it passed over Hull, Hawarden and Boyden on Sunday night.  The Sioux City Journal reports several homes were hit by downed trees but that no injuries were reported. Officials say wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour were also reported and some residents lost power for about three hours.

Today…Sunny. High in the mid 70s. Northwest wind 10 to 15 mph with gusts to around 25 mph.

Tonight…Mostly clear. Low in the upper 40s. North wind 5 to 10 mph. Gusts up to 20 mph through midnight.

Wednesday…Mostly sunny. High in the upper 60s. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph.

Wednesday Night…Mostly cloudy. A chance of showers and isolated thunderstorms through midnight…then showers likely and isolated thunderstorms after midnight. Low around 50. East wind 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation 60 percent.

Thursday…Showers and isolated thunderstorms. Cooler. High in the mid 50s. Northeast wind around 15 mph with gusts to around 25 mph. Chance of precipitation 80 percent.

Thursday Night…Cloudy with a 20 percent chance of showers. Low in the upper 40s.

Friday…Partly sunny with a 20 percent chance of showers. Warmer. High in the upper 60s.

Friday Night And Saturday…Partly cloudy. Low in the lower 50s. High in the mid 70s.

Here’s the (podcast) Freese-Notis forecast for Atlantic, and the KJAN listening area, and the weather stats for Atlantic….

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Atlantic set a new record for the highest temperature recorded in the City for May 27th, Sunday. The temperature at the KJAN studios (the official National Weather Service reporting site for Atlantic), reached 92-degrees, which beat the old record of 91 set in 1931.

The National Weather Service said record high temps were also broken Sunday in Mason City, which reached 93-degrees (the old record was 91 in 1980), and in Des Moines, which reached 91-degrees (The old record was 90, in 1977).

The forecast for Memorial Day calls for mostly sunny skies, and highs across the area in the low 80’s, which would be considerably lower than the record high of 95 set in Atlantic on May 28th, 1895.

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 304 IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT CDT TONIGHT FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS: IN WESTERN IOWA THIS WATCH INCLUDES THE COUNTIES – OF CRAWFORD, HARRISON, SAC, SHELBY & MONONA.

IN ADDITION, A FLASH FLOOD WATCH REMAIN IN EFFECT UNTIL LATE TONIGHT FOR MONONA COUNTY.

IN NEBRASKA THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH INCLUDES 21 COUNTIES

BURT, BUTLER, DODGE, DOUGLAS, SARPY, SAUNDERS, WASHINGTON, ANTELOPE, BOONE, CEDAR, COLFAX, CUMING, MADISON

PIERCE, PLATTE, STANTON, THURSTON, WAYNE, LANCASTER, SALINE & SEWARD.

SKYSCAN FORECAST                     Saturday May 26, 2012           Chris Parks     

Today: Partly sunny.  Breezy SSE @ 10-20mph w/ gusts up to 25mph.  H 90.

Tonight: Partly cloudy.  S @ 10-15 w/ gusts up to 25mph.  L 71.

Sunday: Mostly sunny.  Windy.  S @ 10-15 increasing to 20-25mph w/ gust up to 30mph.  H 92.

Memorial Day: Slight chance showers and t’storms in morning.  Mostly sunny.  SSW @ 10-15.  H 79.

Tuesday: Mostly Sunny.  H 75.

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