A Short Break Ahead – Iowa Weather Network Archives

A BREAK IN THE RAIN: Another day of scattered showers is ahead for most of the state. The exception will be across the western counties of the state where any rain will likely be out of the area by the morning hours at the latest, with the best chances of rain over the eastern half of the state for the rest of the day and into the evening. Highs will be in the 60s across the state with mainly cloudy skies outside the shower activity. The western counties could see peaks of sunshine by the afternoon hours. As we head into Friday and Saturday, the skies will clear and temperatures will slowly warm, especially on Saturday as winds switch out of the south and southwest which should help to boost readings back into the 70s for most of the state. Friday will be similar in temperature to Today even with a lot more sunshine around.

ANOTHER SYSTEM: The next system moves into the state late Saturday night into Sunday with some lingering activity into Monday as well in our eastern counties. We could see a rumble of thunder on Sunday with any afternoon activity that may develop but at this time severe weather isn’t anticipated. Readings will be in the 70s on Sunday, dropping back into the upper 50s to middle 60s on Monday with slightly cooler air filtering in. Rainfall of a quarter to half inch will be possible with this system with isolated heavier totals closer to an inch in any areas with thunderstorm activity.

ANOTHER ONE: A short break on Tuesday with some partial sunshine and highs in the 50s and 60s will be followed by another system coming in Tuesday night into Wednesday with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Temperatures on Wednesday look to jump well into the 60s and 70s across the state with warmer air coming in with the system. We’ll have to keep an eye in this system for any chance of some stronger activity as we get closer to the time period. As we look at Thursday of next week, the low pressure center is shown to be north of the state around Duluth with the state mainly in the dry slot. We can’t rule out an isolated shower but it looks to be mainly dry. It will also be mainly cloudy with very little sunshine and with that temperatures are likely going to be held down in the upper 50s north to middle 60s south.

FURTHER OUT: As we look at what the GFS is showing for the last few days of April into the first several days of May, the model indicates a slow moving system at the end of April into the first few days of May with shower and thunderstorm activity possible. As we look toward the end of the model run, the GFS is several systems moving through the area every other day with shower and thunderstorm activity. The GFS also shows readings mainly near to slightly above seasonal levels (mainly ahead of said systems) but nothing out of the ordinary.