The Eastern part of Iowa is served by 3 separate National Weather Service offices. One is in Des Moines, one in Davenport and another in La Crosse. This map shows the number of days that has elapsed since the last tornado warning issued by the individual NWS offices. Note that for the NWS Des Moines and Davenport offices there have been no tornado warnings issued in over a year! Note, too, that the NWS office near Milaukee hasn’t issued any tornado warnings in almost two years!

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Quite a big change from the earlier May outlooks…now our part of the country is forecast to be cooler and wetter than normal. Based on the first week of the month, this may not be too big of a stretch…

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Many years ago people kept track of time with the church’s calendar. May 11, 12 and 13 belong to St. Mamertus, St. Pancrus and St. Servatius. Folklore says “St. Servatius will not pass without a frost” and “He who shears his sheep before St. Servatius loves his wool more than his sheep” Also referred to as “The Three Chilly Saints” or “The Three Icemen” At least this year, the Icemen Days are turning unusually chilly!

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Click here to see the Cresco students saying hello!I was happy to go back to Howard County on Tuesday, April 30. The fine folks at Cresco Crestwood Middle School invited me to talk to the 8th grade students as they begin their unit on weather. We covered lots of topics including severe local storms, floods, hurricanes and winter storms. Mrs. Bohr’s classes were good listeners and they asked great questions. A few of them even made a cameo on the 6:00 PM news Saturday night! Thanks to everyone in Cresco. I enjoyed my time there and want to come back soon.

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Here are some of the latest snowfall reports from today’s storm…

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Another slow-moving cut-off cyclone is forecast to move through the Midwest beginning May 1. The storm looks like it’ll bring lots of rainy weather our way! Here is the latest precipitation outlook for the next 7 days.

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Many thanks to the fine folks with the Marion-East Cedar Rapids Rotary. The inaugural Rotary Marathon for Shoes was held Sunday April 21. There was a marathon and half-marathon…we started and finished at Linn Mar High School. 3 words…WIND…HILLS…WHEW! I enjoyed my morning in Marion. I wanna do another half-marathon…just not right away.

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Will our weather EVER warm up?! Will it EVER dry out?! Here is the outlook for the month of May… The reddish colors on the temperature map indicate warmer than normal while the blue indicates colder.  “EC” means “Equal Chances”…or near normal.  On the precipitation map the brown colors indicate drier than normal…”EC again means “Equal Chances”.

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A bit of a change in the latest outlook for April. The Northern Plains and Northern Great Lakes regions are now predicted to remain cooler than normal over the next 4 weeks. Warmer than normal temperatures are expected in the Northeast…Mid-Atlantic…Gulf and Southwestern states. Precipitation is forecast to be heavier than normal along the Gulf of Mexico…near normal through the rest of the country.

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On the first full day of Spring I was delighted to visit with the youngsters during Story Time at Hawkins Memorial Library in La Porte City. We read stories about Spring…about planting seeds in the garden…and about flying kites! The children got to plant beans and carrots. They all got to decorate their own kites, too! Thanks to the fine folks in La Porte City. I enjoyed my morning at the library.

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