The past couple of days have really felt like spring with highs in the 40s north ranging to the 60s south. In some cases it felt on the verge of summer with highs topping out in the 70s in southwestern Iowa, pretty impressive for late February! The warm air was pumped northward as a large warm ridge move over the Midwest. Also to help deliver our warmth was a low pressure that brought rain and thunderstorms to Minnesota and northern Wisconsin. This same low was responsible for the really high wind gusts that were reported statewide today. Gusts anywhere from 55 to over 60MPH was reported throughout the entire state although central, north and eastern Iowa seemed to get the worst. Isolated minor incidents including powerpoles damaged,  damage to the roofs of an apartment in the Davenport Metro as well as numerous semi trucks there were flipped especially on north/south highways including several on I-35. The warm spell has left most of the state with bare ground with the exception of the north 1/3rd of Iowa which still has a patchy snowcover as of today.

 

Reported highs between Feb 18th or 19th

Shenandoah 73.F
Omaha/Council Bluffs 67.F
Lamoni 66.F
Keokuk 64.F
Atlantic 61.F
Des Moines 60.F
Sioux City 60.F
Ottumwa 60.F
Pella 59.F
Davenport 57.F
Iowa City 57.F
Cedar Rapids 55.F
Ames 53.F
Carroll 52.F
Fort Dodge 52.F
Dubuque 48.F
Sheldon 46.F
Waterloo/Cedar Falls 46.F
Mason City 45.F
Decorah 45.F

 

Non-Thunderstorm wind gusts

Rapids City 64MPH
Iowa City 63MPH
Davenport 62MPH
Mason City 61MPH
Gruver 61MPH
Des Moines 60MPH
Ankeny 60MPH
Ames 60MPH
Cedar Rapids 59MPH
Rockwell City 59MPH
Dubuque 58MPH
Iowa Falls 58MPH
Clear Lake 58MPH
Clarion 58MPH
Omaha/Council Bluffs 55MPH
Waterloo/Cedar Falls 52MPH
Sioux City 51MPH