Rainy Week Ahead

The weekend has been fairly enjoyable, with warm temperatures and mainly clear skies allowing temperatures to reach the upper 60s to upper 70s over Iowa. It was fairly windy this afternoon, with the southerly winds 15-25 mph across much of the state. A weak cold front has now entered the state, turning the winds to the north/northwest across northwest Iowa and increasing speeds to the 10-20 mph while the rest of the state has calmed a bit. The switch in winds will bring in a bit cooler air for tomorrow and for the rest of the week. Beyond this cold front passage, another strong system will be coming onshore tonight and work into and past the Rockies by Tuesday. This system is responsible for the title you see on this post, as it will bring in rain chances for the state beginning on Tuesday and potentially lasting the rest of the week!

Tonights' lows will range from the lower 40s in extreme northwest Iowa, to the upper 40s and lower 50s over the rest of the state. Highs tomorrow will be hampered by the cold front passage and associated cloud cover. Ranging from the upper 50s to the lower 60s from north to south over much of the state. Monday night will see low temperatures approaching freezing once again over some parts of the state. Mid 30s over northeast Iowa, mid 30s to lower 40s from northeast to southwest over the rest of the state.

A weak warm front from the next approaching storm system will begin to impact extreme western Iowa with rainfall by Tuesday afternoon. Clouds will work over the western half of the state throughout most of the afternoon. High temperatures in the upper 50s to lower 50s from east to west across the state. The rainfall will move over the entire western half of the state through the night, and approach the eastern half by morning. Lows overnight on Tuesday should be near 40 to the lower 40s throughout the state. Wednesday and Wednesday night will be rainy throughout the state, with the potential for moderate to heavy rainfall. Highs on Wednesday will show the impact of the second cold front of the week; mid 40s over northwest Iowa for highs, increasing to the mid 50s over the southeast. Lows overnight will be helped by clouds and rainfall, but dropping into the upper 30s to lower 40s from northwest to southeast.

The cold rain looks to continue on Thursday and Thursday night over a majority of the state. It should finally let up for the western half of the state Thursday night, and likely move out of the state entirely by the weekend. We'll try to warm up for next weekend, but it isn't looking too likely at the moment. Additional updates this week will focus on the rainfall amounts, and how cold of a rain (or snow?) we can get!