All of Iowa, Flooding

Iowa Weather Discussion April 11th 2013

No video today, we’ll resume videos on Friday.

SYSTEM WINDING DOWN: The storm system that has brought everything from rain and thunderstorms to freezing rain, sleet and snow will begin it’s final act later today as it moves off to the east. Much of the precipitation will be scattered and light today but some light rain especially east and light snow or wintry mix in the west cannot be ruled out. Any snow and ice that has fallen or will fall will quickly melt as temperatures will quickly rise back into the 50s by the weekend ahead of the next system approaching from the west.

SUNDAY SOAKER: The next system moves in during the overnight hours Saturday night into Sunday. Moisture is expected to be rather limited with this system, however a good quarter inch or more is possible with this system, with higher totals in areas of thunderstorm activity. This system exits rather quickly Sunday night into Monday but the pattern still looks unsettled with another system beginning to develop off to our west by the middle of next week.

MID WEEK MESS: The next system moves into the state Wednesday into Thursday. Rain with perhaps some embedded thunderstorms could be possible at that time. The GFS is hinting at the possibility of a changeover to some sleet or perhaps a wintry mix Wednesday night into Thursday. That could be possible however we’ll need to see more model data before going with that in the forecast. Temperatures do look to cool down late next week, likely into the 40s to lower 50s for highs with lows around 30.

TOWARD THE END: Another system with possible showers and thunderstorms around the 20-22nd of the month. A brief shot of cold air is shortly followed up by a warmup before another system at the end of the forecast around the 26th with more showers and thunderstorms. In any case, the weather pattern still looks active for the rest of the month at this time, but it’s still too early to determine how much rainfall we’ll get from any of these systems until we get closer in.

FLOODING: With the large amounts of rain we’ve received over the last few days many rivers are near or over flood stage at this time. This will likely continue into the upcoming weekend as well. Remember if you come upon a flooded roadway, turn around don’t drown.