[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWMfRAFcKU8&hl=en&fs=1]

RAINY: It will be rainy today across the state. The eastern counties steered clear of most of the precipitation yesterday, but they won’t be so lucky today with it. Rain, will overspread the state during the day with some heavy at times although amounts from this storm will likely remain under an inch. The precipitation will last into Friday night and begin tapering off from west to east Saturday morning as the storm system lifts out. There is a slight chance of some possible mix over the far north as the precip ends Saturday morning.

MORE RAINY: Another storm moves right on the heels of the first one late on Sunday night into Monday and Tuesday. This low will move a bit closer to the state, so there is a chance the dry slot may move over the good portion of the state Tuesday, cutting off the precipitation. Otherwise the main event with storm #2 will come Monday along and north of a warm front that will be just to the south of the state.

EVEN MORE RAINY AND WINTRY?:On the heels of storm #2 is storm #3 on Thursday with more chances of rain. However this model run gives a twist to this storm. The 850mb chart shows the 0°C line over southern Iowa at midday Thursday, however at 500mb, the 540 line (a good measurement of the freezing line at 18k feet) is across the northern counties. The model run also shows light to moderate precipitation through central and southern Iowa. Likely what will take place Saturday is that the precipitation will fall through a shallow cold layer just about 5-8,000 feet off the ground and reach the surface where temperatures will be likely in the upper 40s to mid 50s. The precipitation will likely be in the form of rain with possible mix of some soft hail (graupel) or even some ice pellets or a snow flake or too. As this is right at the end of the typical 7 day forecast, there could be some radical changes to this storm in later runs, so keep tuned in on this one.

FLOODING: The latest river flooding update on the Mississippi River was posted last night, scroll down for the update. The West Fork Des Moines and the Big Sioux River also remain in flood as well.