The photo below was taken just north of the Waterloo/Cedar Falls metro at 5:30 this afternoon.

Photo Courtesy: Steve  Niewoehner

Posted under Photo

It was not a very nice day to be outside on the last official day of Meteorological spring. Meteorological summer (June/July/August) begins tomorrow. The temperatures did not fluctuate much today with the clouds, light rain and drizzle. The rain gentle rain last night and today was well needed. Here is how much rain has fallen from this storm system:
The numbers below are updated as of the 5 pm precipitation totals. As you can see despite the recent rain events we will still end the month of May with a rain deficit.

Let’s take a look at the high temperatures today. It was much colder than what a typical last day in May would bring. The record cold high temperature was broken in Waterloo today. The old record was 55 in 2001…the high today was 54. No record was broken in Dubuque. The record was 47 in 1889 and the high today was 53. These are the only 2 locations in eastern Iowa the NWS has records of this type.

Posted under Precipitation Totals, Records, Temperatures

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One photo is shown on the 5 pm newscast and one on the 10 pm newscast.

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Tonight:  Evening: Cloudy with light rain/drizzle. Overnight: Decreasing clouds. Low: 42-43. Wind: N 5-10 mph

Friday: Partly cloudy. High: 68-72. Wind: NW 5-10 mph.

Friday Night: Mostly cloudy with a 20% chance of showers. Low: 48-52. Wind: W 5 mph.

Saturday: Partly cloudy with a 20% chance of showers. High: low 70s.

Sunday: Partly cloudy. High: near 80.

Monday: Partly cloudy with a 20% chance of showers/storms. High: low-mid 80s.

Tuesday: Partly cloudy. High: low-mid 80s.

Wednesday: Partly cloudy. High: low 80s.

Thursday: Partly cloudy. High: low 80s.

The rain last night and today is just what the doctor ordered. It has been very dry around here and we needed rain and it came as a gentle light rain for about 24 hours. Here is a link to 24 hour rain totals (7AM Wed to 7 AM Thu). I will have the next 24 hour rain amounts on the blog tomorrow morning.

The low, associated with the rain, is located near St. Louis with a trough extending north into Iowa (see map below).

The low is forecast to move northeast through the Great Lakes Friday. There is a lot of cloud cover with this low through Iowa. The visible satellite below was taken at 2:25 pm.

As the low moves northeast the light rain/drizzle will end around midnight and then clouds will slowly clear after that. The clouds over Minnesota and Dakotas will clear as the sun sets this evening.

High pressure over the Dakotas today will track south to Kansas and then turn east to Tennessee by Saturday morning. Friday will be dry with sunshine in the morning and mix of sun and clouds in the afternoon.

High temperatures today were chilly with clouds and light rain/drizzle throughout the day. The record low maximum temperature for Waterloo is 55 (2001) and Dubuque 47 (1889). These are the only two locations the NWS has this type of record for. The record is Waterloo was broken with the high only reaching 54 degrees. There was no record in Dubuque as the high was 53 degree. Normal highs for this time of year should be in the upper 70s. Friday will be warmer but, still cooler than normal. Here are the highs across the Midwest tomorrow.

 The weekend will be dry with exception of a slight chance of a shower Saturday. A weak upper level disturbance will move southeast across the Iowa Friday night and Saturday morning.  The surface map below is for Saturday morning.

An upper level ridge of will provide next week with tempertures in the 80s and mainly dry weather. There is a slight chance of a shower/storm Monday but at this point it appears the chances are low.

Posted under Forecast Discussion

7 AM Wed -7 AM Thu

Posted under Precipitation Totals

From NWS
2000: Thunderstorms produced very heavy rain and severe flash flooding in extreme northeastern Iowa overnight from May 31st into June 1st with 5.63 inches of rain recorded at Dorchester. This capped off a month of above normal rainfall across northeastern portions of the state, with a monthly total of 8.60 inches at Waterloo setting an all time May rainfall record at that location that would be broken just four years later.

1958: Severe thunderstorms inflicted heavy damage on areas of east central and north eastern Iowa during the afternoon hours. Strong straight line winds gusting to 70 to 80 mph capsized at least half a dozen boats on Rock Creek Lake near Grinnell, drowning two people. Moving northeast the storms continued to produce strong winds and also spawned several tornadoes in Tama, Benton and Linn counties, damaging or destroying dozens of homes and businesses near Dysart and Walker. The most severe effects came as the storms slowed and intensified over Fayette, Clayton, and Delaware counties. At Strawberry Point 4.5 inches of rain was measured by an official gauge in 90 minutes, including an incredible 2.3 inches in just half an hour, resulting in flash flooding that closed most highways and washed away parked cars. Hail the size of hens eggs caused considerable damage there, and just to the east and southeast between Manchester and Garber severe flash flooding also occurred and hail up to baseball size was observed to break the windows in many homes and buildings. Oelwein experienced reportedly its worst hail and wind storm in 60 years when baseball sized hail fell for about 30 minutes, smashing nearly every vehicle and building window in the city and damaging many roofs. Oelwein also reported a downburst of 2.65 inches of rainfall that led to significant flooding, closing nearly all roads and highways in the area.

1897: Unusually cold air settled across Iowa bringing frost to much of the state during the early morning hours and a freeze across about the northern half where temperatures bottomed out in the upper 20s in some areas. Many observers noted killing frosts, ice forming on standing water, and early season fruits and vegetables frozen to the ground. Reported low temperatures included 32 F at Fairfield, Guthrie Center, Stuart, Waterloo, and Wilton, 30 F at Toledo, 29 F at Belle Plaine, 28 F at Eldora, Humboldt, and Independence, and 27 F at Britt and Fayette.

31 May 1889 → At 4:07 p.m. the inhabitants of Johnstown, PA heard a low rumble that grew to a “roar like thunder.” The South Fork Dam had broken, sending 20 million tons of water crashing down the narrow valley. Boiling with huge chunks of debris, the wall of floodwater grew at times to 60 feet high, tearing downhill at 40 mph, leveling everything in its path. 2200 were killed that day. 31 May 1911 → A violent derby day thunderstorm killed four horses on Epsom Downs in Southeastern England. Local flooding, landslides, lightning, and wind gusts inflicted damage across lowland England. Seventeen people were killed in the London area. 31 May 1930 → New Mexico’s deadliest tornado, an F2, killed two men in Wagon Mound when it destroyed the auto repair garage they were in. 31 May 1935 → The U.S.’s record 2-hour rainfall amount was set at D’Hanis, TX, with exactly 15 inches. The U.S.’s record 2.75 hour record rain was also set with 22 inches. 31 May 1947 → A tornado swept clean the north side of Leedey, OK. Not only were homes obliterated and blown away, but the top few inches of people’s lawns were swept away as well. However, the tornado took a full 5 minutes to slowly chew through the small town, so F5 winds may not have been necessary to create damage this complete. 31 May 1985 → The eastern Great Lakes region’s worst tornado outbreak. One of the tornadoes was an F5 that crossed from Ohio into Pennsylvania, killing 18 people along its 47 mile long path.

Posted under Weather History

Since the 22 of May our temperatures have been as high as the low 90s and tomorrow we will struggle to get out of the 50s.  Here is a chart of the high temperatures from May 22 and the forecast for the next few days for Waterloo.

Posted under Temperatures

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Posted under Hot Shots, Photo

Tonight: Cloudy with a 100% chance of showers. Low: 47-51. Wind: NE 5-10 mph.

Thursday: Cloudy with a 70% chance of showers. High: 57-59. Wind: NE 5-15 mph.

Thursday Night: Mostly cloudy with 20% chance of showers. Low: 45-46. Wind: N 5-10 mph

Friday: Partly cloudy. High: mid 60s.

Saturday: Partly cloudy with a 20% chance of showers. High: mid 70s.

Sunday: Partly cloudy. High: near 80.

Monday: Partly cloudy with a 20% chance of showers/storms. High: low 80s.

Tuesday: Partly cloudy. High: near 80.

Wednesday: Partly cloudy. High: upper 70s.
 

Low pressure in Oklahoma and Texas has a trough extended north into Nebraska and Iowa this evening. High pressure is stretched from the Dakotas to the Great Lakes. The high will prevent the low from tracking north through Thursday. Therefore the low will track east across southern Missouri and be located in southern Indiana by evening (see map below).

Scattered showers are likely tonight and Thursday morning. During the afternoon there might be more breaks between the showers. The map below shows the rain forecast from Wednesday evening to Thursday evening.

High pressure will quickly move across the middle of the country with dry weather for Friday. There is a slight chance a weak upper level disturbance may trigger a shower Saturday.  Other than that slight chance…the weekend will be dry with highs in the 70s and low 80s.

Next week will be pretty quiet. High temperatures in the upper 70s and low 80s will accompany a mix of sun and clouds through Wednesday. There is a slight chance of a shower/storm Monday.

Posted under Forecast Discussion

From NWS
1998: A severe thunderstorm tracked roughly parallel to and just north of Highway 30 from southern Sac County to Marshall County. The storm was strongest as it moved from near Boone to Ames and through Nevada around midday producing several weak tornadoes and extremely large hail. Winds gusted to as high as 80 mph at Meservey and hail the size of baseballs and larger fell at Ames and numerous other locations, with hail stones ranging in size up to an amazing 5 inches in diameter north of Gilbert. Damage from the hail was severe with every north facing window broken out in several towns and countless thousands of acres of crops battered to pieces. More than 24,000 acres were totally destroyed in southern Webster County alone and in southern Calhoun County a Lohrville woman was injured in her car by shattering glass.

1985: A tornado produced F3 damage as it grazed Elkader while moving east northeast at about 45 mph. The tornado struck the County Care Facility just outside the city killing 2 people and injuring 10 others, then went on to devastate dozens of farms and injure another 25 people in Clayton County before crossing the Mississippi River into Wisconsin.

1965: Unusually cold weather resulted in frost and near freezing temperatures being reported at some locations across about the eastern third of Iowa on the morning of May 30th. Low temperatures included 35 F at Charles City, Fayette, Marshalltown, and Oelwein, 34 F at New Hampton and Osage, 33 F at Cresco, and 31 F at Saratoga.

1934: What would become one of the hottest summers on record in Iowa began to intensify as a heat wave in the last three days of May resulted in nearly every location in the state exceeding 100 F on at least one of those three days. The heat wave peaked on the 30th when the temperature soared to as high as 111 F near Inwood which is the highest temperature ever recorded in Iowa in May. Other high temperatures on the 30th included 110 F at Boone, 109 F at Logan and Spencer, 108 F at Le Mars, and 107 F at Storm Lake. Des Moines and Sioux City also set their respective May records as both reached a high of 105 F. Amazingly this extremely hot weather came only a few days after unseasonably cool temperatures in the 30s had been recorded across much of the state with frost on the 25th and 26th. In fact, at Boone the low temperature on the morning of the 25th was 30 F so the temperature at that location rose by 80 F in just five days. To put this into perspective, the largest temperature range ever recorded across the state of Iowa during the entire month of May is 88 degrees.

1899: At least five significant tornadoes touched down in western and northwestern Iowa killing one person and injuring more than a dozen others. The oldest known photograph of an Iowa tornado was taken on this day near Kingsley in Plymouth County.

1879: A significant tornado outbreak produced several particularly violent, long-lived, killer tornadoes across portions of Kansas and Missouri as well as at least three smaller tornadoes in southern Iowa. The first of these passed just southeast of Clarinda destroying a railroad bridge but largely affecting only rural areas. An observer in Clarinda noted that the storm was “accompanied by the most terrific hailstorm remembered by the older citizens.” A second tornado produced F3 damage in Appanoose County as it passed a few miles south of Cincinnati leveling a farm house and killing a man inside. A third tornado destroyed several farms and buildings on a path across Adair County, resulting in dozens of injuries but no reported fatalities.

30 May 1948 → Acting as a dam, a railroad bed gave way during a flood on the Columbia River. It destroyed the town of Vanport, OR. Fortunately, the 19,000 residents escaped, but with only the clothes they were wearing. 30 May 1961 → Near Gates, NE, a farm was completely destroyed by a violent tornado, possibly an F5. All buildings and machinery on the farm were swept away, and 30 head of cattle were killed. 30 May 1998 → A supercell moved across southeastern South Dakota and produced an F4 tornado that passed through the town of Spencer. The tornado killed 6 people and injured 300. Only 6 buildings were left standing in Spencer.

Posted under Weather History