Today: Showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 3pm. High near 65. Light south southeast wind becoming south 5 to 9 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Tonight: Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly before 11pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 54. East southeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Thursday: A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms between 10am and 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 70. North northeast wind 6 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Thursday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 49. North wind 11 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph.

Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 68. North northeast wind 8 to 10 mph.
Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 47.

Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 60. Breezy.
Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 38.

Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 62.

A ban on open burning in Mills County is scheduled to be lifted Wednesday afternoon. The Iowa Department of Public Safety reports the Burn Ban, which was initiated in Mills County on April 8th, will end 4-p.m. Wednesday, because conditions are less conducive to field and grassland controlled burns, getting out of control. Once the ban is lifted, there will be no counties in Iowa which remain under such a ban.

COUNITES: CASS-ADAMS-TAYLOR-
PATCHY DENSE FOG HAS DEVELOPED OVER A SMALL PORTION OF SOUTHWEST IOWA EARLY THIS MORNING WITH A FEW LOCATIONS REPORTING ONE QUARTER MILE VISIBILITY. THE FOG WILL PERSIST THROUGH THE MORNING COMMUTE…OR TO ABOUT 830 AM CDT. BE PREPARED FOR LOW VISIBILITY… ESPECIALLY IN LOWER LYING AREAS.

WHEN ENCOUNTERING AREAS OF DENSE FOG…PERSONS TRAVELING EARLY TODAY ARE URGED TO SLOW DOWN…USE LOW BEAM HEADLIGHTS…AND BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS NEAR INTERSECTIONS AND RAILROAD CROSSINGS.

The (Podcast) Freese-Notis (weather.net) forecast for Atlantic & the KJAN listening area, and weather data for Atlantic.

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345 AM CDT TUE MAY 7 2013

EARLY THIS MORNING…PARTLY CLOUDY. AREAS OF FOG. NORTHEAST WIND NEAR 5 MPH.

TODAY…PARTLY SUNNY. A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGH IN THE LOWER 70S. SOUTH WIND NEAR 10 MPH.

TONIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY THROUGH MIDNIGHT…THEN MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 40 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS AFTER MIDNIGHT. LOW IN THE MID 50S. SOUTHEAST WIND 5 TO 10 MPH.

WEDNESDAY…CLOUDY. THUNDERSTORMS LIKELY IN THE MORNING…THEN A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGH IN THE UPPER 60S. SOUTH WIND 5 TO 15 MPH. CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS 70 PERCENT.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 30 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. LOW IN THE MID 50S. SOUTHEAST WIND 5 TO 10 MPH SHIFTING TO THE NORTHEAST AFTER MIDNIGHT.

THURSDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. HIGH AROUND 70. NORTH WIND 5 TO 15 MPH.

THURSDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE LOWER 50S.

FRIDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS. HIGH IN THE UPPER 60S. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 20 PERCENT.

The field and grassland Fire Danger Index in Shelby County remains in the “Low” risk category this week. That was the word today (Monday), from the Shelby County Emergency Management Agency, who said also, that the weekly notifications will likely be discontinued soon, unless unusually dry conditions return to the area.

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

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411 AM CDT MON MAY 6 2013

EARLY THIS MORNING…MOSTLY CLOUDY. AREAS OF FOG. NORTH WIND AROUND 5 MPH.

TODAY…PARTLY SUNNY. WARMER. AREAS OF FOG THROUGH MID MORNING. HIGH AROUND 70. NORTHEAST WIND NEAR 10 MPH.

TONIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE UPPER 40S. EAST WIND NEAR 5 MPH.

TUESDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS LATE IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGH IN THE LOWER 70S. SOUTH WIND NEAR 10 MPH. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 20 PERCENT.

TUESDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH MIDNIGHT…THEN MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH SHOWERS LIKELY AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS AFTER MIDNIGHT. LOW IN THE LOWER 50S. SOUTHEAST WIND 5 TO 10 MPH. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 60 PERCENT.

WEDNESDAY…CLOUDY. THUNDERSTORMS LIKELY IN THE MORNING…THEN A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGH IN THE UPPER 60S. SOUTH WIND 5 TO 10 MPH. CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS 70 PERCENT.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT…THUNDERSTORMS LIKELY. LOW IN THE MID 50S. CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS 60 PERCENT.

THURSDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 50 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. HIGH AROUND 70.

The recent rain and snow have played havoc with outdoor events and activities, but all the moisture has a positive side. Tim Hall of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says moisture of any type is important after the severe drought that hit the state. “This is exactly what we’d hoped for, is sustained long-term, better then normal precipitation during the months when we typically get a lot of rain anyway. And March and April and May are pretty wet months, and we are getting more than normal right in those months,” Hall says.

April set a new statewide average for rainfall at six-point-five-two inches (6.52), with normal rainfall for April at three-point-five-one (3.51) inches. A new drought map comes out Thursday, and Hall expects to see the areas with severe problems continuing to shrink. “We’re making some real improvement in the drought conditions in the state, and I think we’re gonna continue to see improvement in the near future,” according to Hall. Not only has the amount of rain increased, it is coming at a time where the frost is out of the ground — so the rain that falls or snow that melts — sinks into the soil.

“In fact our groundwater folks who work with a lot of the water utilities in northwest Iowa are starting to see that reflected in the water levels in some of the wells that are used to supply drinking water,” Hall says. “So we’re starting to see some gradual recovery in the levels in wells, which is indicative of the water making it down into the ground where it is going to do some real good.” He says those areas that were not hit as hard by the drought are building up some reserve with the rains that’re falling now. Hall says that makes it less likely they’ll get back into a water shortage.

“I think if the rainfall stopped for a couple of weeks, which it probable will — I mean we go through periods where we don’t get rain for a couple three weeks — the real danger is if that rainfall slows down or stops and we get excessively hot where the demand for water also starts to go up in conjunction with the rain going down,” Hall says. Hall says farmers are probably really hoping the rain will stop for awhile so they can get into the fields — but he says even they will be happy that all the moisture is replenishing the groundwater.

(Radio Iowa)

700 AM CDT SUN MAY 5 2013
AREA COUNTIES: UNION-RINGGOLD-

…DENSE FOG ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM CDT THIS MORNING…

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DES MOINES HAS ISSUED A DENSE FOG
ADVISORY…WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM CDT THIS MORNING.

* VISIBILITY…ONE QUARTER OF A MILE WITH FURTHER REDUCTIONS
POSSIBLE AT TIMES.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

A DENSE FOG ADVISORY MEANS VISIBILITIES WILL FREQUENTLY BE
REDUCED TO LESS THAN ONE QUARTER MILE. IF DRIVING…SLOW DOWN…
USE YOUR HEADLIGHTS…AND LEAVE PLENTY OF DISTANCE AHEAD OF YOU.