EASTER WEEKEND: A warm weekend across the state with some chances of showers and thunderstorms becoming more numerous as we head into Easter Sunday. Today we will see plenty of sunshine once again with readings in the 60s and 70s. There could be an isolated thunderstorm in the northwestern counties in the late afternoon hours but many areas will get by with little or no rain. The chances increase as we move into tonight and into Easter Sunday as the system moves slowly into the state. Sunrise services should be ok in the southeastern third of the state, while the rest of the state could see a shower or storm around. During the day and into Sunday night, the shower and thunderstorm threat will move through the rest of the state and linger on into Monday morning, especially in the eastern counties of the state. Highs on Easter Sunday will be in the upper 60s to the middle 70s.

NEXT WEEK STORM: The next system will move into the state on Wednesday into Thursday with a chance of some showers and thunderstorms at that time. The severe weather threat at least in Iowa has lessened but we’ll keep watch out to see if this may change in later runs although it is looking less likely at this point. There will be two rounds, one Wednesday afternoon into Wednesday night which may linger into Thursday morning and again Thursday afternoon through Thursday night into early on Friday. Some decent rainfall amounts may be possible with this system. Highs during this period will be in the 60s and 70s.

HERE WE GO ROUND THE MAY POLE: No big changes so far in the extended period. We still see some active weather toward the end of April into May. However, the GFS is now showing an Omega Block Pattern potentially setting up across the country. This would constitute an upper level feature in the northeast and another in the west. In the middle where we are the weather would be somewhat calm and tranquil with readings near seasonal levels. Since this is the first time we’ve seen something like this on the model, we’ll wait for model data before going forward at this time.

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