The new Drought Monitor was released this morning and as mentioned in the forecast post from earlier this afternoon the conditions have gotten worse.  Here is an image from the NWS showing how the drought has progressed through the summer.

Posted under Drought, NOAA

A storm developed very quickly in Winnehiek County just before 5 pm. It turned into a tornado warning with rotation indicated on the radar. At this point there are some unconfirmed reports of a funnel cloud with the storm. We are trying to get photos of the funnel cloud. If we get them I will add them to this blog post.

Here is a map to show where the storm reports came in from.

The storm did produce large hail and strong winds. Here is a photo that was sent to us showing the size of a hail stone. It fell at 4:56 pm 2 miles west of Decorah.  It is 2.00″ in diameter…a little larger than an egg. 

Here are some other reports from the storm:

4 E Ridgeway [Winneshiek Co, IA] public reports HAIL of golf ball size (E1.75 INCH) at 04:56 PM CDT — quarter to golfball. dented camper. wind estimated at 50 mph with leaves sprayed onto side of house. no damage to home siding.

2 NE Calmar [Winneshiek Co, IA] co-op observer reports HAIL of quarter size (M1.00 INCH) at 05:10 PM CDT — cooperative observer measured up to quarter size hail. drifts of hail in road ditch and the corn was stripped of the leaves with stalks and ears left.

Calmar [Winneshiek Co, IA] fire dept/rescue reports TSTM WND GST of E70 MPH at 05:10 PM CDT — Calmar Fire Department estimated a wind gust of 70 miles per hour.

Here is what the storm looked like in Fayette County by Jordan Dierks.

On the lighter side, the combination of rain and the sun setting produced some nice rainbows. Here are some that were sent in this evening.

From: Dave and Carol Mallory near Walker

From: Karen Meyer near Winthrop

From: Kim Fettkether near Dunkerton

Posted under Clouds, Photo, Severe Weather

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

9:15 PM UPDATE
Tonight: Chance of storms across northern Iowa this evening otherwise mostly clear overnight with patchy fog late. Low: 53-57. Wind: N 5-10 mph.

Friday: Mostly sunny. High: 76-81. Wind: N 5-15 mph.

Friday Night: Mostly clear with patchy fog. Low: 47-53. Wind: N 5 mph.

Saturday: Mostly sunny. High: near 80.

Sunday: Mostly cloudy with a 20% chance of showers/storms. High: low-mid 70s.

Monday: Partly cloudy. High: near 80.

Tuesday: Partly cloudy. High: mid 80s.

Wednesday: Partly cloudy. High: upper 80s.

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

There are a few storms tracking south across southeast Minnesota. Isolated storms across northern Iowa are possible this evening with wind gusts to 40 or 45 mph and small hail. Here is the radar image at 3:44 PM.

The storms will dissipate as the sun sets. The sky will become mostly clear across all of eastern Iowa this evening giving us good viewing conditions to see the International Space Station flyover. Here is the viewing information.

Time: 9:25 pm
Duration: 6 min
Path: WSW to NE

Time: 11:05 pm
Duration: 2 min
Path: NNW to NNE

The updated Drought Monitor was released this morning. The data cutoff for Drought Monitor maps is Tuesday at 6 AM. The maps, which are based on analysis of the data, are released each Thursday at 7:30 AM. The drought is getting worse across Iowa. Last week 31% of the state was in extreme drought this week it is up to 69%.

There is only one change in the burn bans across central and eastern Iowa today. Marshall County has dropped the burn ban. No other counties in central and eastern Iowa have changed the burn ban status.
High pressure will provide lots of sunshine to the area Friday and Saturday with high temperatures in the 70s. Saturday morning will be cool with temperatures dropping into the upper 40s and low 50s.

As high pressure moves east, low pressure in Nebraska Sunday morning will track across Iowa during the day. We will have a mostly cloudy sky with a chance of showers/storms. No severe weather is anticipated. The clouds and showers will keep temperatures down with highs in the low to mid 70s. Here is the position of the low Sunday morning.

As the low moves away the weather will remain quiet with a mix of sun and clouds Monday through Wednesday as high temperatures slowly warm from 80 on Monday to the upper 80s Wednesday.

The 8-14 day outlook has a something we have not seen for a while for Iowa…near to below normal temperatures and near to above normal precipitation. The time frame is Aug. 17-23.

Posted under Astronomy, Drought, Fire, Forecast Discussion

The latest Drought Monitor was released this morning. The drought conditions are getting worse and spreading across Iowa. The extreme drought conditions covered 31% last week to 69% this week.

Posted under Drought

7 AM Wednesday to 7 AM Thursday

Posted under Precipitation Totals

From NWS
2009: A long-lived very severe thunderstorm traveled roughly along and just south of Highway 20 from northeastern Crawford County to Black Hawk County between about 8 am and noon. The storm produced copious amounts of very large hail as well as strong straight-line winds that drove the hail with much force, increasing the resulting damage. The storm cycled in intensity several times along its path with the first peak producing particularly severe hail damage along a swath through eastern Sac County and into far western Calhoun County. The second peak produced a path of even greater damage through Webster County, just missing Fort Dodge to the south and resulting in total destruction of crops around Callender and Otho. The largest hail fell with the third peak in Hardin and Grundy counties where the worst damage occurred in and around Eldora. Hail 3 inches in diameter or larger was driven by 70 to 100 mph winds severely damaging virtually every structure and vehicle in the city and devastating all crops, trees, and vegetation. Some cars and trucks had every window broken and their bodies riddled with large dents. Nearly every north and west facing window in the city was broken, all but a few buildings required significant roof repair or replacement, and the siding was stripped completely off of some houses. At Pine Lake State Park just east of Eldora several participants in an archery competition were caught outside in the storm and suffered from large welts and bruises. Elsewhere there were numerous other injuries including reports of lacerations and broken bones from the wind-driven hail. Countless birds and wild animals were also killed during the storm.

1934: A summer of record breaking heat continued as the temperature rose all the way to 116 F at Keokuk which set the all-time Iowa August record. The reliability of this reading has been questioned, however it does remain the highest official temperature on record in Iowa in the month of August. The second-highest temperature of 115 F also occurred on this date at Keosauqua and on the previous day at Ottumwa. Other high temperatures recorded on the 9th included 113 F at Fairfield and Lamoni, 112 F at Albia and Knoxville, and 111 F at Atlantic and Winterset.

1922: A very severe hail storm struck west central Iowa with the greatest damage in Crawford, Shelby, Audubon, and Guthrie counties. An observer wrote that “the principal damage was to corn but chickens and young pigs were reported killed by the score and two cows were killed…in portions of the area whole sections were hailed out so completely that not a single stalk of corn was left standing. In Guthrie County fields were white with hail and ditches two feet deep were completely filled. Four days after the storm there was sufficient hail in the ditches to make ice cream.”

9 August 1930 → Perryville, TN reached 113 degrees, setting the record high for the state. 9 August 1945 → An American B-29 dropped a nuclear bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. The second choice of targets was actually Kokura, which was the location of a large munitions plant. However, the cloud cover over Kokura that day prevented the dropping of the bomb, even after 3 attempts. So, the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki instead. 9 August 2003 → Europe sweltered in a deadly heat wave as Britain and Germany both recorded their hottest temperatures since records had been kept. The temperature soared to 105 degrees at Roth in Bavaria and 100.2 degrees in London.

Posted under Weather History