Iowa Weather Report October 5th 2014 – Iowa Weather Network Archives

SLOW MODERATION: Temperatures will slowly return to near seasonal levels especially by the middle of next week. Until that time it will remain a couple degrees below seasonal levels for early October. Clouds may hang tough in the northeastern counties today while the rest of the state will see partly to mostly sunny skies. Highs will be in the 50s northeast to the middle 60s southwest. As we head into the beginning of the new work week, a disturbance will rotate around the trough that is over the eastern half of the country. This could bring some isolated showers to the area. The best chance of seeing any precipitation will be across the northeastern half of the state, but most areas may remain dry. Temperatures will be held down in those areas with the amount of clouds we may see. The rest of the state will see readings in the 60s. Tuesday and Wednesday will see mostly sunny skies around the entire state with readings holding in the 60s statewide.

NEXT SYSTEM: A system will be approaching from the southwest on Thursday, with remnants of the former Hurricane Simon from the eastern Pacific. This may graze the southeastern half of the state on Thursday and into the first half of Friday with some showers and perhaps an isolated thunderstorm or two. Temperatures don’t look to change much with 60s still fairly common across the state. As we head into next weekend, Saturday looks to be the best of the two days with plenty of sunshine around. However next Sunday could bring another storm in from the northwest which should enhance the chances of showers and perhaps a thunderstorm at that time. We have plenty of time to watch this system in the coming days to try and get better timing on when this system could affect the state.

PROGRESSIVE PATTERN: The GFS continues to hint at a progressive weather pattern as we head farther into the month of October. This run is showing several systems moving through with some brief cold shots coming behind them but quick moderation back to near seasonal levels within a few days. Timing these this far in advance is a challenge but the only trend that I’ve seen over the last few days is that a quick progressive pattern across the country seems to be what might happen. Whether this continues in the coming days is up for debate.