Into the Tropical Humidity Once More – Iowa Weather Network Archives

TYPICAL SUMMER: Warm and humid conditions will be found today with partly to mostly sunny skies around. Highs will range from the upper 80s to lower 90s across the state. Heat indices will likely get as high as 105 in our western counties. A storm system will approach the state Thursday and Friday with chances of showers and thunderstorms. Some of the storms could bring some heavy rainfall. This won’t be an all-day occurrence as there will be some sunshine around mainly on Thursday. Highs on Thursday will be similar to today with heat indices up and over 100 in many areas.

CHILLIN’: This coming weekend will be a perfect chance to head to the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, as there will be cooler temperatures and lower humidity levels as well. Highs will be in the lower 80s both days with plenty of sunshine around. Across the rest of the state, readings will range from the upper 70s across the northeastern counties to the middle 80s in the west.

NEXT WEEK: As we look at next week, readings will start to slowly inch higher as we head through the week. It will be dry to start out with readings in the 80s. We should see some lower 90s by the middle of the week in our western counties. The GFS is also hinting at some possible activity toward the middle of the week as well. Current thinking suggests that we could see some nocturnal activity moving along the edge of heat ridge that will be west of the state at that time. Timing of these events is very hard to predict even a day ahead of time and this is a week from now. We’ll keep watching models for any continued trend on this.

GET OUT THE PENCILS: As we look through the end of the fair and into the first week of school for some, the GFS is showing a frontal system dropping into the state on the last weekend of the fair. This would bring decent chances of rainfall at that time, if this were to occur. Thereafter the model indicates cooler air moving in for the rest of the period with readings below seasonal levels. Not really buying into this yet. We’ll need to see more consistency in the coming days before any confidence were to occur.