Tonight: Decreasing clouds this evening and then mostly clear overnight. Low: 62-67. Wind: NE 5-10 mph.

Friday: Mostly sunny. High: 87-90. Wind: E 5-10 mph.

Friday Night: Mostly clear. Low: 65-67. Wind: S 5-10 mph.

Saturday: Partly cloudy, hot and humid. High: low 90s.

Sunday: Partly cloudy, hot and humid. High: low 90s.

Monday: Partly cloudy, hot and humid with a 20% chance of showers/storms. High: mid 90s.

Tuesday: Partly cloudy, hot and humid. High: mid 90s.

Wednesday: Partly cloudy, hot and humid with a 20% chance of showers/storms. High: mid 90s.

Thursday: Partly cloudy, hot and humid with a 20% chance of showers/storms. High: mid 90s.

There were some clouds across the northeast Iowa today. The clouds have been slowly clearing during the afternoon. Here is a visible satellite image from early this afternoon.

The combination of the front south of Iowa, a north wind and some clouds today it was “cool” with temperatures in the upper 70s to mid 80s at 2 pm.

The Drought Monitor was released today and as you would expect with little to no rain in the last 7 days the conditions have gotten worse. The moderate drought area across Iowa has gone from 66% last week to 100% of the state this week. The severe drought conditions have gone from 13% of the state last week to 59% of the state this week. These numbers are in the chart below.

Here is the latest on the burn bans across the state. More burn bans are being issued in central and western Iowa. Click here for the details on each burn ban.

Randy Haugen took this photo to show how bad the corn looks near Decorah due to the drought
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On the other hand, Cresco had a few inches of rain Wednesday afternoon with the storms. Those storms also produced some hail. Here is the link to the hail photos. The storms also brought strong winds to knock down the corn in Cresco as you can see from the photo below taken by Jeff Ryan.
The next chance of rain is forecast for Monday as a cold front drifts south across Iowa. The front will stall Monday night and then drift back north as a warm front. This will keep high temperatures in the mid 90s. The map below is the GFS model for Monday afternoon.

Posted under Drought, Fire, Forecast Discussion