STORM ON THE WAY: Showers and even a couple of thunderstorms will be possible today across the state. The best chance for any thunderstorms will be over the eastern and southeastern counties of the state. The Storm Prediction Center does have a slight risk of severe weather for today and tonight for portions of far southern and southeastern Iowa. This would include areas along and south of IA Hwy 2 east of Interstate 35 roughly. Large hail and damaging winds would be the main threats with any thunderstorms that may become severe up this way. Highs today will range from the 40s north to the 50s to near 60 south. Tonight, the precipitation may transition over to a rain snow mix in our northern counties before ending while the rest of the state will just see rain. Rainfall amounts will generally be between a quarter to a half inch with some areas possibly getting more especially in thunderstorms. Any accumulating snow should be minor with the better accumulations likely over Minnesota. Tonight lows will eventually drop into the 20s and lower 30s.

THE WEEKEND: Friday will feature the sun returning once again and readings warming into the upper 30s north to near 50 south with plenty of sunshine around. There could be some extra clouds in our southern counties with a disturbance that may graze the state with some precipitation Friday night but it doesn’t look to amount to much at this point. Heading into the weekend, skies will be mainly sunny and readings will be spectacular. Saturday will see readings soaring into the upper 40s northeast to lower and middle 60s southwest. Sunday will be much warmer with 60s and perhaps a few 70s statewide as well. We could see a heightened fire danger with the strong southwesterly winds and dry conditions around so be aware of that.

INTO NEXT WEEK: The next system will move quickly through the state on Monday bringing with it a chance of some light rain. This system looks to be moisture starved so amounts under a tenth of an inch look likely at this point. Another system will be moving in late Tuesday through the day on Wednesday which may bring some showers and perhaps some thunderstorms as well. We may also see the precipitation changeover to a wintry mix in our northern counties once again during the overnight hours while it should remain rain during the day. This system as of now looks very similar to the storm system moving through today. We’ll see if that trend continues in the coming days. Temperatures will cool off for the rest of the week before a warming trend looks to take shape toward the following weekend.

FARTHER INTO APRIL: The rest of the extended period shows a few storm systems with some chances of rain and possibly wintry mix along with it. Readings look to be near to slightly below seasonal levels (which has been a theme all winter long it seems). One thing is for certain that if the model run does verify, we may put a dent into the drought conditions that is still ongoing across parts of the state. Let’s hope this active pattern trend continues in future model runs.

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