(Radio Iowa) – Ninety-six of Iowa’s 99 counties will be under an Extreme Heat Warning starting at noon today (Monday) and running through 9 o’clock tomorrow night. The remaining three counties, Lyon, Osceola and Dickinson in far northwest Iowa, are under a Heat Advisory. Jim Lee, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service, says it’ll be brutal. “The high temperatures will range generally in the low to mid-90s, but with the oppressive humidity, the heat index values will be peaking around 105 or higher,” Lee says, “so it is going to be quite humid and hot out there.”
Lee anticipates July will begin much like June is wrapping up — steamy.”It will remain warm and muggy all the way through the 4th of July, although there are some signs that maybe it’ll abate a little bit here as we get through or past Tuesday or so,” Lee says, “but even then, we’re still looking at heat index values near or over 100 almost every day this week.”
Lee says some rainfall is possible, which could help to relieve the oppressive heat a little. “We are also expecting thunderstorm chances to return, well, really every night this week, but especially tonight, Tuesday night, Wednesday night,” Lee says. “Those are going to be really tricky for us to forecast because we do expect storms to develop somewhere across the region, but at this time, it’s difficult to tell whether they’ll be in north-central Iowa, far northwestern Iowa, or even just clear up into South Dakota and Minnesota.”
Forecasters remind Iowans to stay hydrated, take breaks if working in the heat, and to never leave pets or children in cars even for a few minutes.
