Today we reached 90+ degrees this afternoon making it the 5th day so far this year in Waterloo. Here is a look back at how many days the high temperature was 90+ in Waterloo. The last two bars on the right are the record max and min number of 90+ days ever recorded in one year and the year it occurred. 

Posted under Climate, Temperatures

Tomorrow is the first day of summer and that is usually the longest day of the year depending on your latitude. Here is a look at the sunrise/sunset times during the past few months…on the 20th of each month. The two maps below show the direction that the sun rises (green line) and the sun sets (red line). The top map is for tomorrow, June 20 and the bottom map is for March 20. Notice how the sunrise and sunset locations move farther north during the spring. The locations will now start to head south as we get closer to the first day of fall (Autumnal Equinox) where the map for that day would look like the bottom map.

Date            Sunrise           Sunset
June 20          5:32                   8:51
May 20           5:42                   8:30
April 20          6:20                  7:58
March 20       7:12                   7:22

The earliest sunrise for Waterloo is 5:32 AM (June 7-21) and the latest sunset is 8:51 PM (June 22-30).

Posted under Astronomy

It is getting pretty bad out there when it comes to the lack of rain and the ground drying up. Plants, lawns and crops are taking a beating with the lack of dry weather lately and on top of that hot, sunny and windy last couple of days. The storm track for the last week had most of the storms tracking north of Iowa. The map below shows rain totals of the last 7 days. Notice eastern Iowa has little to no rain.

Here is the update on the official ran totals for the month to date and the deficit…this does not include the rain deficit we had in May.

Here is the potential rain as the cold front tracks through the area Wednesday and Wednesday night.

Posted under Drought

Submit your weather Hot Shot by clicking here.
One photo is shown on the 5 pm newscast and one on the 10 pm newscast.

Posted under Hot Shots, Photo

Tonight: Mostly clear, warm and humid. Low: 72-74. Wind: S 10-15 mph. 

Wednesday: AM: Increasing clouds. PM: A 60% chance of showers/storms northwestern counties and 20% chance in the southeast counties. High: 80-90. Wind: SW 10-20 mph.

Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy with a 60% chance of showers/storms. Low: 60-64. Wind: NW 5-10 mph. 

Thursday: Mostly sunny and less humid. High: low 80s.

Friday: Mostly sunny. High: low 80s.

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

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

Monday: Partly cloudy. High: mid 80s.

Tuesday: Partly cloudy. High: mid 80s.
 

You can see the International Space Station (ISS) this evening…here is the viewing information:

Time: 9:18 PM 
Duration: 3 min
Travel Path: N to NE (max elevation (18 degrees)

Time: 10:55 PM 
Duration: 2 min
Travel Path: N to E (max elevation (56 degrees)

We will have one more night with lows in the 70s and it will remain humid. There is a cold front I am tracking and it will bring us some relief from the heat and humidity Thursday. It will also bring a chance of showers/storms to the area. At this point, it doesn’t look like there will be any severe storms. The front is forecast to slowly move across Iowa Wednesday. Model guidance has the showers/storms only making it into our northwestern counties during the afternoon while the southeastern counties will be dry. Here is location of the front Wednesday evening.

The front will cross eastern Iowa Wednesday night with a chance of showers/storms for all of eastern Iowa. The showers will end late Wednesday night.  Here is the forecast rain amount possible with the front. The map, below left, is for Tuesday evening to Wednesday evening. The map, below right, is for Wednesday evening to Thursday evening.

There might be some clouds lingering into early Thursday morning otherwise we will have a mostly sunny day. It will be cooler and less humid with a lighter wind. These conditions are all due to high pressure moving across the Midwest Thursday and Friday.

Yesterday it was looking like temperatures might warm to near 90 degrees Saturday but, that does not seem to be the case today. Yesterday, model guidance was showing the ridge to be farther east than the data shows today. The upper level ridge is a little farther west and under the ridge is the heat.  The 500 mb map below is for Saturday evening.

Also do to the shift in the upper level ridge position…the surface low will track more south this weekend. The more southern track would keep the warm front across the Iowa/Missouri state line and us on the cooler side of the low. So with that in mind, high temperatures Saturday will be more in the low-mid 80 range. The low will track to our south for the weekend and bring us a slight chance of showers/storms. The map below shows the position of the low and warm front Saturday morning.

Once the low moves east of Iowa, a large area of high pressure in central Canada will stretch south into the Midwest with dry conditions Monday and Tuesday.

Posted under Astronomy, Forecast Discussion

Want to watch the KWWL News at Noon on your lunch break? Download the Syncbak app and you can watch KWWL newscasts on your Android or Apple mobile device.

Here is more information about Synbak…click here.

I have this on my phone and tried it the other day and it worked well. Best part is that it all FREE.  Enjoy. If you have any questions let me know and I will help you and if I can’t I will find someone that will be able to.

Here is what the first screen will look like (iPhone)

Here is what the second screen will look like (iPhone). Click on “Watch Now” and it will take you right to the newscasts. You can only watch the newscast as it is Live from this app.

Posted under Miscellaneous

From NWS
1996: Severe thunderstorms produced large hail across northwestern Iowa with 3.5 inch stones reported just north of Hinton in Plymouth County and 4.5 inch stones producing 200,000 dollars in damage to vehicles and buildings at Cushing in Woodbury County.

19 June 1588 → A powerful storm heavily damaged the Spanish Armada off the northwest tip of Spain. The Armada would continue to be weakened by storms, as well as attacks from the English, and would crumble before the end of the year. 19 June 2000 → A rare thunderstorm occurred at Barrow, AK around 10:30pm.

Posted under Weather History