Marching Into April – Iowa Weather Network Archives

A WET LION: The month will be ending with a chance of some showers across the state with a system moving through the state. There may be rumbles of thunder in our southeastern counties but any severe weather will be east of the state. Highs today will be in the upper 40s north to the middle 60s southeast. Colder air will move in late tonight and some of the precipitation could mix with a bit of snow. This should amount to a whole lot as most of the moisture will be east of the state, however some disturbances will be coming around the backside of the departing system leading to some activity as we head into the first day of April. It will be mainly cloudy nevertheless on Friday with readings in the 40s to lower 50s.

WEEKEND: The first weekend of April will be cool on Saturday and a bit warmer on Sunday with another disturbance skirting our northeastern counties on Sunday from the northwest. Skies will be partly to mostly sunny on Saturday with more clouds in the northeastern counties of the state. Highs will make it into the 40s northeast to the lower 60s southwest. Sunday will feature 50s and 60s across the state with more clouds northeast than in our southern and western counties.

NEXT WEEK: Cold air will begin the new work week with readings in the 40s in our eastern counties and 50s in the western counties. Temperatures will be a few degrees warmer on Tuesday but there’ll be some clouds around as a warm front will move through the state and could trigger some rain and perhaps even a wintry mix early in the morning in the northern counties. The second part of the system comes in late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning with a chance of some rain at that time. We could see rumbles of thunder once again but no severe weather. Wednesday looks to be mainly cloudy with only a few breaks by afternoon mainly in the southern and western counties of the state. Temperatures will be hard pressed to get out of the upper 40s to middle 50s. The rest of the week will be cooler with partly to mostly sunny skies around.

FURTHER ALONG: As we look at what the GFS sees in the extended period, a ridge is shown to build across the area as we head into the second weekend of April. This would help to boost readings above seasonal levels at that time. Another system is shown to swing through late on Sunday the 10th or early on Monday the 11th with a chance of some showers and perhaps a thunderstorm. The rest of the period has readings slightly below seasonal levels with them moderating to average by the end of the period. The end of the period looks to be somewhat active with precipitation possible with several different systems moving through. Of course the timing and strength are still in question. We’ll keep watch for any trends or changes as usual.