Iowa Weather Report May 8th 2015: Big Finale This Weekend

STORMS THROUGH SUNDAY: The chances of showers and thunderstorms will continue across the state through at least Sunday with a big finale possible that day with some strong to possibly severe thunderstorms. Today will be similar to yesterday with some scattered showers and thunderstorms possible. They will be widely scattered and some areas may not get much if any rain today while others may get a good amount. The best chance for these storms will be over the eastern and southern counties of the state. Highs today will be in the upper 60s northwest to the middle and upper 70s southeast. As we head into the weekend on Saturday the shower and thunderstorm chance will increase, however most of the severe weather threat will be to our southwest. These storms may determine the amount of possible severe weather we may get on Sunday. Saturday’s temperatures will be similar to today with readings in the 60s and 70s across the state. We’ll continue to monitor the possible severe weather threat for Sunday. The threat should move out of the state early on Monday with only some lingering showers possible in our eastern counties for the morning into the early afternoon hours.

CALMING DOWN: The weather pattern looks to calm down and dry out as we head into the latter half of next week. We do have a disturbance that will move through on Wednesday that could bring us more showers and perhaps a thunderstorm, but that would be about it. Readings will start out in the 60s for highs with a gradual warm up back into the lower and middle 70s perhaps by the end of next week. This may still change and we’ll be keeping tabs on it in the coming days.

SOMEWHERE OVER THE HORIZON: Looking into the extended period, the calm weather looks to continue into the following weekend (16-17th) with seasonal temperatures possible. Thereafter, the GFS brings the active weather pattern back with several systems through the end of the period with only brief breaks to dry out. This is still 10+ days out and could change, but any trends that develop will be monitored over the next couple of days.