Saturday, 20 August 2011 Extended Pow County Forecast

READ THE IOWA MONTHLY WEATHER SUMMARY FOR JULY 2011 AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE........


A weak cool front is situated over Pow County this morning and will be the focus for an Isolated Tshower later today and into the evening.  The Key Words here being, "an Isolated Tshower".  Not all of us are going to see a shower as the front moves thru.  Most of the precip is going to fall south of Hwy 34 as the front stalls over the Iowa/Mo Border this afternoon and evening.  Those of us that will be lucky enough to see rainfall around here will likely see Less Than 1/4".

It's DRY and we need rain.  Unfortunately, the week ahead isn't going to provide any appreciable rainfall amounts in Central Iowa.  After today, Sunday and Monday are looking dry.  We have another shot at some showers/Tshowers Tuesday, but once again, most of the heavier activity is going miss Central Iowa as the brunt of the rainfall will be in NE Iowa Tuesday Evening.  The remainder of next week will be Dry.

The current Drought Monitor is showing Pow County as being "Abnormally Dry", and counties just to our Southeast as being in a "Moderate Drought".  Bottom Line:  No break in this pattern over the next week.....Click here to see the current Drought Conditions/Areas around Iowa.



Today thru Mon 20th-22nd: Isolated Tshowers Today after 10am - Dry Sunday and Monday - Temps Low 80's.


Tues thru Sat 23rd-27th: Isolated Showers Tues - Dry Wed thru Sat - Temps Mid 80's.


Sun thru Tues 28th-30th: Dry Sun - Tshowers Mon - Dry Tues - Temps High 70's.


Wed thru Sun 31st-Sept 4th: Mainly Dry, Warmer, and Breezy.

Mon and Tues 5th/6th:  Tshowers.

IOWA PRELIMINARY MONTHLY WEATHER SUMMARY – JULY 2011

General Summary. Iowa temperatures averaged 78.8° or 5.0° above normal while precipitation totaled 3.37 inches or 0.88 inch less than normal. This ranks as the seventh warmest and 60^th driest July among 139 years of records. A warmer month was last recorded in August 1983 and a warmer July not since 1955.

Temperatures. July got off to a hot start with highs in the 90s statewide on the 1^st and this proved to be a sign of things to come. Only five days (3^rd-4^th and 12^th-14^th) averaged cooler than normal while another five days (1^st, 17^th-20^th) averaged more than ten degrees above normal. Official temperatures reached 100°or better on seven dates (18^th-23^rd and the 27^th) with most of the triple digit readings coming from south central and southeast Iowa. Keosauqua reported the highest official temperature with 102° on the 18^th. Very high humidity added to the discomfort with official dew points readings as high as 83°. The heat index officially climbed to 110° or higher on six days (16^th-19^th, 23^rd & 27^th) with Spencer reaching 117° on the 18^th. Unofficial heat index readings climbed as high as 130°. Cooler air masses made a few brief incursions into the state with minimum temperatures of 52° at Elkader on the 4^th and at Mason City on the 13^th and 25^th. Only July 2010 (53°) had a higher statewide calendar month minimum temperature.




Precipitation. Summer rainfall tends to be highly variable across Iowa and this past month was more so than usual. Monthly rain totals varied from only 0.17 inch at Fairfield to 16.01 inches at the Dubuque Airport. Fairfield’s total was their lowest for July since 1975 and only 4% of normal. Dubuque’s total was swollen by a record 24-hour rainfall of 10.62 inches on the night of July 27. Their July total was the highest for any month at that location among 158 years of records (old record 15.46 inches in September 1965). Unofficial rain totals of up to 14.5 inches were reported just south of Dubuque which seems quite plausible given official totals to 13.70 inches just across the Mississippi River near Galena, Illinois. Locally heavy rain also fell in Dickinson County earlier in the month with 9.97 inches reported west of Spirit Lake from July 10th to the 15^th. Meanwhile parts of south central and southeast Iowa, which had been very wet in May and June, recorded less than an inch of rain during July. Relatively dry conditions have also gradually developed over the past several months over much of west central, central and southwest Iowa as well as smaller areas in the other sections of the state. The dryness, along with persistent July heat, probably is reducing crop yields in many areas from what had been a good early growing season.

Severe Weather. The most damaging severe weather event of the growing season struck at least 22 counties during the pre-dawn hours of July 11. This long-lived thunderstorm event, known as a derecho, brought winds estimated as high as 130 miles per hour in Benton County. This event had a lifespan of about 24-hours, beginning in Nebraska during the evening of the 10^th and finally ending in Maryland on the evening of the 11^th.