[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S54gwxgS6Po?hl=en&fs=1&w=425&h=349]

RAINFALL DECREASE: Big change from yesterday’s video, the latest QPF chart shows almost no rain across the northeastern counties of the state over the next 5 days, with up to an inch over the far south. This is mainly due to a storm system that was shifted south out of the state today taking most of the precipitation into Kansas and Missouri. There will be some shower and thunderstorm activity but it will be confined to mainly south of Interstate 80. This will last until early Friday with more chances coming again late Saturday into early Sunday morning and then again next Tuesday.

SEASONAL: For the first time in several weeks, there is no TRIPLE H in sight, at least for the time being. Temperatures will remain seasonal for early August, with highs in the 80s to near 90 with sensible dewpoints (In the 60s to near 70), keeping heat indices at or below 100° in many locales. The heat ridge begins to build again early next week to the west of the state and really begins to take hold by the middle to end of the week, we’ll see if this means that TRIPLE H, will be making a comeback at that time (which will be around the time of the Iowa State Fair!)

EMILY: Tropical Storm Emily is slowly moving west, south of the island of Hispanola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), top sustained winds were at 50mph as of this posting. The latest forecast for the National Hurricane Center takes the storm over the western tip of Haiti in the northeastern Cuba and the Bahamas by the end of the week, skirting the Florida east coast during the weekend and then recurving out to sea by early next week. Some models do bring Emily into Florida while others are a bit further to the east. The only connection to Iowa’s weather will be to slow systems in this part of the country by a day or so as they begin to recurve.