It is here!!! The storm TRACK7 Weather app for iOS users (iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch) is available. You can see the latest radar image for your backyard and anywhere in the country. One of the nice features about this app is that it will give you the weather information for your locaiton when you are traveling anywhere in the country.  Oh and did I mention it is FREE!!!

The following things are available on the app:

> 10 Day Forecast
> Hourly Forecast
> Alerts
> KWWL video forecast
> KWWL news feed
> take a photo/video and submit it to KWWL
> and much more

The screen captures below are from the iPhone.

The screen capture below is from the iPad.

This iOS app goes along with our app for Android that I posted about the end of November. Here is the link to that story.

Posted under Miscellaneous

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

UPDATED at 5:00 PM

Tonight:  Mostly clear. Low: 19-27. Wind: Calm.

Friday: Partly cloudy. High: 43-49. Wind: SE 5-15 mph.

Friday Night: Cloudy and breezy with rain developing by midnight. Low: 34-38. Wind: SE 10-20 mph.

Saturday: Cloudy with a 90% chance of rain. High: near 40

Sunday: Mostly cloudy. High: low-mid 30s.

Monday: Mostly cloudy. High: mid 30s.

Tuesday: Partly cloudy. High: low-mid 30s.

Wednesday: Mostly cloudy and breezy (S 10-20 mph). High: mid 30s.

Thursday: Mostly cloudy, colder and windy (NW 15-25 mp). High: mid 20s.

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The sky will be mostly clear tonight and once again giving us a chance to see a couple of things in the sky. First will be the International Space Station.

ISS IMAGE
Time: 5:34 PM
Duration: 5 minutes
Path:  SSW to E (max elevation 38 deg. above the horizon)

The second thing is the Geminid Meteor shower. Tonight will they will peak with the best time between 9 PM to 3 AM. You could see as many as 50 meteors per hour. Look in the southwestern sky.
Friday will have lots of sunshine with clouds increasing during the afternoon. The low is forecast to be located in eastern Colorado Friday evening. The low will track northeast and will cross Iowa Saturday. It is nice to see that the models are showing the same forecast track.

Rain will develop Friday night and continue through Saturday. It will taper off Saturday evening. The track of the low will keep this all rain. Any snow accumulation will be north of Iowa. The map below shows the chances of snow 1” or more from Friday evening to Saturday evening.

We are still in a drought and so any precipitation is a good thing. The rain forecast shows most locations at least 0.50” with some spots as high as 1.00”.  The map below shows the rain forecast from Thursday evening to Sunday evening.
Once the storm moves away from Iowa…the weather will be quiet with dry conditions Sunday through Thursday. High temperatures will be closer to the normal highs for this time of year.

Posted under Forecast Discussion

From NWS
1921: Unseasonably warm weather settled across Iowa for several days in mid-December, with the highest temperatures reached on the 13th. Many stations established daily records that still stand today, including Sioux City and Des Moines both with a high of 64 F. Other reported high temperatures included 65 F at Atlantic, Corning, and Guthrie Center, 68 F at Little Sioux, and 69 F at Thurman.

This Day in National/World Weather History …

13 December 1969 → In Hoberg, on the northern coast of Vancouver Island, winds were clocked from the south at 80 mph, with accompanying gusts to 99 mph. In the remarks column, a weather observer had written, “blowing rocks.” 13 December 1997 → A rare cold snap and snowstorm struck northern Mexico, leaving 12 people dead. Guadalajara reported snow for the first time since 1881. Chihuahua residents saw temperatures plunge to 5 degrees Fahrenheit.

Posted under Weather History