Spring?!

We've been flirting with spring for the past couple weeks in Iowa, at times bringing highs up into the 50s across the state with warm southerly winds. But, then we'd have a system come through and bring behind it the cold air which of course allowed us to see more of that white stuff. Strangely enough, looking at the highs for Ames today in the map room of the Meteorology department here at ISU we noticed that we had yet to reach 60 degrees once this year! We look to break that streak potentially this weekend, if not this weekend there may be potential even next week. Several systems look to come through the state over the next week, including a potentially strong system next week.

Starting out with highs tomorrow, generally consistent across the state with mid and upper 40s under heavy cloudcover. Expect rain showers to cut through the southern half of the state during the afternoon and into the overnight. Areas of northern Iowa may see some isolated showers, however their chances are much lower than those in the south. Lows Thursday night in the upper 20s to mid 30s from northwest to southeast, some showers may remain in the area for the southeast as well. We'll rebound temperatures nicely for Friday with highs in the mid to upper 50s throughout. This gives way to lows in the lower and mid 30s for the overnight.

The weekend is going to start off great, with highs from the upper 50s to lower 60s under clear skies. The lows for Saturday night should stay above freezing for the entire state, mid 30s in the northwest to lower 40s throughout the southern half. It's a good thing the temps will be above freezing, as our next system is going to bring a low pressure system right across the state. Rain and potential thunder will last through Sunday, pulling out of the state during the early nighttime hours Sunday night. Temperatures on Sunday will range from the 40s north of the low in extreme northern Iowa to near 60 in the southeast where the warm sector of the system looks to be located. Sunday night lows from near 30 in the northwest to near 40 in the southeast.

We reach into the first half of next week with highs in the 50s and 60s across the state Monday through Wednesday. Lows expected in the 30s on Monday night, but some moisture return into the state will likely hold lows on Tuesday night in the upper 30s to 40s. From Tuesday through the next couple of days after will likely have chances of rain and thunderstorms with the next potentially significant storm system. Some talk has already started on next Wednesday for severe weather in the plains, more information on this and any changes in the forecast in later updates.