Iowa Weather Report June 18th 2015: The Sun is Out Today

STORMS ON SATURDAY: Looking at the rest of the week and into the weekend, there will be plenty of sunshine across the state today and on Friday with high temperatures in the upper 70s to lower 80s across the state. We may see some morning showers today across the eastern counties before that threat moves into Illinois. It should remain dry until late tomorrow night into Saturday morning with a round of showers and thunderstorms at that time. The main event looks to move in Saturday afternoon through the evening into the overnight hours and into the first half of Sunday. A system will move into the area and showers and thunderstorms may develop across the area late in the afternoon. Some of these storms could become strong to severe. We should a better handle on the severe weather threats as we get closer. Heavy rain could be possible with this system as well. This will move out early on Sunday with some clearing skies later in the day. Saturday will be quite warm with 80s and lower 90s possible cooling off back to around 80 (give or take) on Sunday.

SCATTERED ACTIVITY: Next week is up in the air at this time. This run of the GFS has numerous disturbances moving along the northern periphery of an upper level ridge that is forecast to build over the southern third of the country. This would put the state in the firing line for numerous rounds of showers and thunderstorms next week. The issue is the timing of said systems, where they’ll form and where they’ll move. This is very hard to forecast even this far out. What we can say is that there is a chance of precipitation during the period that could occur at any time of the day but am leaning more toward the evening into the overnight hours at this point. This could change with time so stay tuned. Nevertheless, highs will be in the 80s for the most part if this holds true.

MOVIN’ ON OUT: Looking into the extended period, a system will move into the state around the 27th-28th with more concentrated chances of showers and thunderstorms at that time. A trend we continue to see in the extended period is a trough over the Great Lakes and Northeast that keeps us cooler than average at the end of June into the first of July. This also shows a ridge building out west as well. We have seen this for a few days now. We’ll see if this trend continues over the next couple of days.