Graduation Forecast

It looks like the weather should cooperate for most of the state this weekend as everybody gets prepared and holds their party to celebrate. Today has highs in the lower to mid 80s, partly cloudy skies and winds 10-20 mph from the southeast. Lows tonight should be in the 50s throughout the state, some isolated thunderstorms also look to be possible in northern Iowa during the evening and into the early nighttime hours. Those chances of thunderstorms will linger over the northeast portion of the state on Sunday, at least keeping cloudy conditions in place. Highs in the northeast will likely be in the 70s with mid 80s in the western portion of the state under partly cloudy skies. Winds on Sunday should only be 5-15 mph from the south. For the seniors and their party on Sunday night, lows should be in the lower 50s to lower 60s from east to west, lighter winds and partly cloudy to clear skies.

Cleaning the parties up might become a problem for the early work week, as thunderstorms move into the forecast. Monday night has some isolated thunderstorm chances, although I would not expect much. Tuesday into Tuesday night will have western Iowa under the gun for some severe weather. These thunderstorms will move across the rest of the state early Wednesday before another round develops and could become severe for central/eastern Iowa on Wednesday. The exact risks for severe weather aren't known yet, as the system looks to be fairly potent depending on moisture return and heating during the days before thunderstorms development. Those threats can become better outlined by Sunday night or on Monday as the system first moves into the plains states...