Summer Arrives!!

After a weekend with near record lows, we now enter a couple of days with high temperatures that will be well above normal for late May. We saw our first hint of that today with temperatures across the state ranging from near 90 along the Missouri River, to only the upper 60s along the eastern portions of the state. We'll see the upper level ridge move further east over the next couple of days, allowing the entire state to see the well above normal temperatures. This will come with some negatives, as southerly winds will be gusty from 20-40 mph on both Tuesday and Wednesday. As for those highs, Tuesday will range from near 90 to near 80 from west to east; Wednesday from the lower 90s to lower 80s from west to east. Lows on Tuesday from the mid 60s to upper 50s from west to east.

A cold front will begin to drape into the state on Wednesday night, leading to some showers and isolated thunderstorms across northwest Iowa. This will also lead to some lower temperatures, with Wednesday night lows from the lower 50s to upper 50s from northwest to southeast. As the cold front slowly moves into the state it will begin to diffuse, and linger across the state for a few days. This will lead to sporadic chances of showers across portions of the state through the end of the week and into the weekend. High temperatures only in the upper 60s to upper 70s are expected; with lows in the upper 40s to upper 50s.

We'll see how the Memorial Weekend forecast plays out, but it looks to be around normal for temperatures; and we will be hopeful that we can clear out the skies for Sunday and Monday after a likely cloudy Saturday start.

In the even longer range, much of the talk between storm chasers is the lack of significant severe weather that appears to be forecasted for quite some time. Some chasers have even been canceling their latter half of May vacations that they were hopeful to chase on. We'll see if summer decides to show up early and end a lot of the significant severe weather chances over the central/southern plains.