High pressure gave us a clear sky and little wind last night. Combine that with a dry atmosphere and you get temperatures to drop into the 20s like they did this morning.
 
Here is a look ahead toward the end of the week and weekend. High pressure over Nebraska…moving east…will give us dry weather Fri/Sat/Sun. High temperatures will be near 60 degrees. The image below shows temperatures/surface map Saturday afternoon.

Posted under Temperatures

Posted under Precipitation Totals, Temperatures, Weather Tracker Reports

Short Term:
Rain to our west/southwest will continue to move east/northeast. The blue is snow mixing in with the rain in NE Nebraska and NW Iowa. We will see rain overnight with a few snow showers mixed in at times. The road temperatures are in the upper 40s. Click here to see the latest pavement temperatures. The ground is too warm for any snow to accumulate on the road.


A Look Back at Temperatures:
I don’t need to tell you that the last two weeks have been pretty cold. Some days our high temperatures have been 20-30 degrees colder than normal
 

A Look Ahead at Temperatures
The upper air pattern develops low pressure in the eastern half of the country pulling cold air all the way to the Gulf coast. The eastern half of the country (including Iowa) will remain colder than normal through Friday with a slight warm up Saturday as highs approach 50. Sunday and Monday will be the warmer days with highs in the upper 50s and low 60s. The weekend will be dry with sunshine making for a nice fall weekend. Another storm will bring rain to us on Tuesday next week.

Posted under Forecast Discussion, Temperatures

* A record low temperature of 21 degrees was set at Dubuque breaking the old record of 23 set in 1987.

Posted under Climate, Records, Temperatures

Posted under Temperatures

Here is some more information about our record cold across the Midwest…

This was the coldest July on record for the nine-state Midwest region, based on preliminary temperature data. The average temperature for the region was 68.0 degrees, 4.7 degrees below normal. The previous record was 68.9 degrees in 1992, according to Mike Timlin, Regional Climatologist with the NOAA Midwestern Regional Climate Center.

It was the coldest July on record for Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa; the second coldest on record for Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, and Wisconsin; the third coldest in Minnesota; and the fourth coldest on record for Missouri. Records for the region date back 114 years.

Click here for the rest of the story.

Posted under NOAA, Records, Temperatures

The below information is from the NWS:

THIS HAS BEEN THE COOLEST JULY ON RECORD THROUGH JULY 27TH ON A STATEWIDE AVERAGE.  OF COURSE…THIS IS BASED OFF OF PRELIMINARY DATA AND THERE ARE A FEW DAYS LEFT IN THE MONTH.  IN ANY CASE…THE COOL PATTERN HAS PERSISTED FOR ALMOST THE ENTIRE MONTH.  THE FOLLOWING IS A LISTING OF STATEWIDE RANKINGS OF AVERAGE TEMPERATURES FOR THE MONTH OF JULY.  AGAIN…2009 DATA IS THROUGH JULY 27 AND IS PRELIMINARY.

Posted under Records, Temperatures

Courtesy: Iowa Environmental Mesonet

 It has been a very unusual July. We have been talking more about record cold than the heat, humidity and severe weather. We have been stuck in a weather pattern with a trough of low pressure in the northeastern 1/3 of the nation and a big ridge in the western have of the U.S. Above are some interesting numbers when it comes to the heat or should I say lack of heat. Here is another fact about the chilly July. As of yesterday, nobody has yet to officially report 90 degrees during the month of July this year…through yesterday (Thursday). If the temperatures remain below 90 degrees for the rest of the month, it would be the first time since 1893 Iowa does not officially reach 90 degrees somewhere.  The average temperature for Iowa in July is 73.8 degrees. We have been well below that number only averaging 68.1 degrees. By the way, the record is 68.3 degrees.

Ok now for the severe weather numbers. So far this year we have only had 13 tornadoes touchdown compared to 105 last year. From August through the rest of the year we typically have fewer and fewer tornadoes each month as winter approaches. We are now past the most active time for tornadoes in Iowa. Typically 70% of the state’s tornadoes occur in May and June.

Posted under Severe Weather, Temperatures, Uncategorized

Record Cold High Temperature yesterday:
Dubuque: 64.   Old Record: 68 in 1912
Moline: 68.   Old Record: 70 in 1947

Daily Record Rain yesterday:
Dubuque: 2.42″.   Old Record: 2.09″ in 1935

Posted under Precipitation Totals, Records, Temperatures

Click here for the current temperature.

“Antarctica is the coldest, highest, windiest, driest, and iciest continent on earth”

Coldest: -128.5° F at Vostok, July 21, 1983 (World low temperature record.)
Highest: Average elevation 8200 feet (2500 meters).
Windiest: Gales reach 200 mph on Commonwealth Bay, George V coast.
Driest: Average precipitation is less than 2 inches per year.
Iciest: The thickest ice found is in Wilkes Land, where it reaches a depth of 15,669 feet (4,776 meters ).

Posted under Records, Temperatures