[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EPhFyAv1RM?hl=en&fs=1&w=425&h=349]

SEVERE WEATHER AGAIN: There is a slight risk of severe weather over the western half of the state, mainly west of Interstate 35. The main risk looks to be from damaging winds, with large hail a secondary risk and isolated tornadoes possible over the Siouxland westward into southern SD and northern NE. The system will stick around the state for several days with shower and thunderstorm activity through Saturday. The eastern half of the state will remain dry today and tonight and won’t see rain chances until early Friday at the earliest. There will be another system Tuesday through early Thursday as well.

POSSIBLE WARM WEATHER: The ridge is still on this run out in the 8-12 day period near the end of the month, it actually goes into the early days of September as well. Along with this feature is the tropical system somewhere in either the Gulf of Mexico or the eastern seaboard. The storm the GFS is likely looking at is halfway between the US and Africa currently. The effect on Iowa’s weather will be to block the flow (in this case the model shows a ridge and lack of precip) which would likely continue under this setup for a day or two longer. We’ll see if this ridge continues in future runs. If so, we could see some readings in the 90s once again before Summer ends.

FOOTBALL FORECAST: The High School Football Season begins tomorrow night across the state with Week 0 games (Yes there is a Week 0 in Iowa High School Athletics). The Football Forecasts will be added to Thursday’s videos beginning next week, a post on this week’s forecast will be forthcoming later today.