Cold Front Moving Through...

A cold front is just on the doorstep of northwest Iowa, with areas of eastern Nebraska, eastern South Dakota, and into Minnesota receiving rainfall currently. Northwest Iowa is currently under mostly cloudy skies, meanwhile the rest of the state stays under clear skies. Strong southerly winds will continue overnight, with 15-25 mph wind speeds likely for most areas; extreme western Iowa will see the winds shift over to the west and then northwest as the cold front moves through. Lows tonight will range from the 40s over northwest Iowa, and 50s over the rest of western Iowa, but the central and eastern thirds of the state will remain in the lower 60s. Expect anywhere west of a Omaha to Fort Dodge to Algona line to see rainfall by sunrise tomorrow morning.

This will setup a long day of cloudy skies and continuous rainfall for a large part of the state on Monday. The cold front should move through nearly the entire state by Monday night, but most of the precipitation may be behind it. Highs on Monday should range from the lower 50s in extreme northwest Iowa, to the mid 70s across eastern Iowa. Rainfall is likely west of a LaCrosse, WI to Waterloo to Des Moines to Lamoni line, some of these amounts may be significant depending on any embedded thunderstorms. Monday night will have rainfall scattered through most of the state, only early in the west, and lasting through most of the night in the central and eastern thirds. This rainfall will keep temperatures a little warmer with cloud cover above, central and eastern Iowa should range from the lower to upper 40s, with only extreme southeast Iowa left in the 50s. Back behind the front in the clear skies of northwest Iowa, temperatures will fall dramatically into the mid to upper 30s!!

Although the cold front becomes a little more diffuse, it should finally push through the state Tuesday morning. Lingering showers are possible for the southeastern half of the state, while temperatures are in the mid to upper 50s for nearly the entire state on Tuesday. Additional moisture will keep the showers in the forecast for nearly the entire state on Tuesday night, and the cloudy skies will allow a little warmer temperatures in mainly the 40s.

The system finally rids the state of any influence on Wednesday morning, with high temperatures under sunny skies finally return into the lower and mid 60s. Overnight lows on Wednesday will be in the mid 30s to mid 40s across the state, with the coldest temperatures coming in northwest Iowa once again... Later updates for early this week will likely focus on rain totals and the passage of the cold front.