Iowa WX

There is a real difference this afternoon between locations that are receiving sunshine and those that are not. For example at mid afternoon Waterloo had a temperature of 39° with Fog, while in southeast Iowa where skies have partally cleared, Fairfield, Mount Pleasant and Burlington are at 56°. Keokuk has jumped up to 61° with a dewpoint at 51°.

This is a minor break in the action before the next round of rain and isolated thunderstorms moves into the state from the south and southwest. It will arrive most likely after sunset this evening and last throughout the overnight hours into Thursday. Some of the storms may be severe in Missouri and west central Illinois, but are not likely to be in Iowa.

Numerous rivers continue under river flood warnings through the early part of next week or later. The next post will address those issues.

Rain will continue off and on through Saturday before drier weather moves in. Highs today will be stuck in the low to mid 40s over the north where clouds and fog will hold tough, while the southeastern parts of the state will easily hit or surpass 60 degrees (as it has already done so in Keokuk). Over the next few days highs will remain in the 40s and lower 50s with lows generally in the mid to upper 30s to lower 40s.

A Dense Fog Advisory has been issued until 9am Tuesday morning for the following counties, Allamakee, Chickasaw, Clayton, Fayette, Floyd, Howard, Mitchell, Winneshiek, Black Hawk, Boone, Bremer, Butler, Calhoun, Carroll, Cerro Gordo, Dallas, Emmet, Franklin, Greene, Grundy, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardin, Humboldt, Jasper, Kossuth, Marshall, Palo Alto, Pocahontas, Polk, Poweshiek, Sac, Story, Tama, Webster, Winnebago, Worth and Wright.

Also a Dense Fog Advisory has been issued until 6am Tuesday morning for the following counties, Benton, Buchanan, Cedar, Clinton, Delaware, Des Moines, Dubuque, Henry, Iowa, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Jones, Keokuk, Linn, Louisa, Muscatine, Scott and Washington.

Visibilities have already dropped below a quarter mile in many locations in the state and will drop to near zero during the overnight and early morning hours. Make sure to use low beams if you will be driving tonight.

Some dense fog is likely this evening and overnight across the state. A dense fog advisory has been issued for most of the state except along the Missouri River Valley and the southeastern part of the state (The Quad Cities CWA) until mid-morning on Monday.

The next storm will be in the state on Tuesday and is forecasted to remain around through at least Friday. Rainfall maybe heavy with the latest QPF chart showing amounts of at least an inch over the next couple of days, with the highest amounts approaching an inch and a half.

Temperatures over the next week will remain above freezing during the day and most of the upcoming nights as well, so freezing rain, sleet and snow are not likely to be an issue.

Flooding is still possible with the continuing snowmelt and possible heavy rainfall this coming week.

Scattered light to moderate rain showers have been moving across the state today. The eastern part of the state has been under ample sunshine for most of the day, but clouds have moved in ahead of a band of showers that is moving east this afternoon. Amounts should be under a quarter inch with this first band has it moves east this evening. More rain is forecast later tonight into tomorrow with amounts under a quarter inch with this precipitation as well. A clap of thunder cannot be ruled out especially in the southern parts of the state this evening and overnight. Some sleet and freezing rain may mix with the precipitation in the north as well as temperatures drop to near freezing tonight.

The next storm is the one that has more questions than answers at this point. Currently, the storm is forecast to move into the state on Tuesday with some light to moderate rain. It will slowly move across the state with lingering chances of rain through at least Thursday and maybe even into early Friday morning in the east. Amounts from this second storm could be in the range of 3/4 of an inch upwards to 1.5 inches in some isolated heavier spots. This will likely lead to some river flooding across the state with the continued melting of the snowpack.

The good thing about all this is that temperatures will stay above the freezing mark for most of the next couple days and nights across the state, which lessens any chance of the rain switching over to sleet, freezing rain or snow. There is however a chance of that occurring some nights over the northern portions of the state for a few hours, but is likely not to amount to a whole lot.