Iowa Weather Report May 5th 2015: Rerun of Rain and Storms

STORM CHANCES: The chances of showers and thunderstorms look to continue for the rest of the week, however there will be some sunshine around as well and this would bring readings well into the 70s and 80s if we see this. This stalled front over the state will also have a wide variation of temperatures from north to south as well. Highs today will be in the 60s north to near 80 south. The best chance for seeing any sunshine today will be over the southern counties. Heading into Wednesday, we should see more sunshine statewide as temperatures will run mainly in the 70s and lower 80s, but the shower and thunderstorms chances will increase by the afternoon hours and into the evening as well.

A BREAK?: The GFS is showing a high pressure center over southern Canada nosing into the state on Friday and Saturday which may move a lot of the precipitation chances to the south of the state. However, it will still be close enough that the threat remains over the southern counties of the state both days for some precipitation. Confidence in this two day break isn’t real high right now, but we’ll watch any possible trends that develop over the next few days with regards to this. Sunday and Monday the frontal system moves back north once again, overspreading the chances of showers and thunderstorms across the state at that time. It should be noted that when all is said and done by Monday night, precipitation amounts across the state may be around 2-4” with some areas possibly seeing more than that. This may lead to some flooding issues in some areas. We’ll be watching out for that as well.

EXTENDED PERIOD: As we look into the extended period, the GFS continues to show an active weather pattern through the period across the state. There will be some dry periods and temperatures fairly close to seasonal levels as well. Don’t see much change at this point, but we’ll watch for any trends on timing of said systems in the coming days or so.