The past seven days have seemed like they came strait out of a week in April or even May! We’ve had an unprecedented warm spell with many days being in the 60s and three of those days in the 70s which is more 70+ degree days in February then Des Moines has ever had before. …
Author: Derek McKay
Record February Warmth
Today felt more like we are approaching summer instead of mid winter as warm southwesterly breezes brought unprecedented warmth into our state. Highs ranged from the lower to middle 70s across the south to 50s and 60s across the north with numerous daily record high temperatures being broken, in some cases by quite a few …
Spring Update #1 Winter, What Winter?
I was going to make a post about how to create winter interest in the garden but it seemed like we really didn’t have much of one this year. This month we’ve really only had 4 days with temperatures cool enough to call winter-like and the one time we did have a 3″ snowfall it …
First flower of 2017
Today the first flower of 2017 opened an award that goes to this single Snowdrop ( Galanthus Elwesii ) This is exactly one week later then last years first making it the second year in a row with mid winter blooms. This bloom comes earlier then the average first flower, typically Snowdrops bloom here about …
A Taste of Spring in January
Wow did today’s weather make it feel like spring is around the corner, with a little less wind it would have been even better! Today’s warm spell was brought to us by a clipper system that impacted areas north and east of Iowa. Northeast Iowa did see a bit of snow from this system but …
Fall color report #4 Peak color being reached
Fall colors are continuing to quickly spread southward with the warm weather that we’ve been having. North Iowa, most of Minnesota and Wisconsin are now past peak or even leafless. Peak color conditions can be found in south Iowa and across parts of Illinois, and Nebraska. Missouri and Kansas along with southern Illinois is next …
Fall color report #3 Moderate to high color
Fall color is really being accelerated this week after last weeks cold snap and the past warm-up. North and northeastern Iowa which is famous for it’s fall color is experiencing high color conditions and they are just about to peak. Peak fall color is expected to hit this upcoming weekend in north Iowa including Spencer, …
October 17th record breaking warmth
Today strong southerly breezes made it feel more like that of the dog days of August than mid fall. About the only way one could tell that it is fall is by seeing the fall colors that are currently around. Instead of light jackets like most would expect to need this time of year, many …
Fall color report #2
Fall color is rapidly spreading across the heartland this week as we continue to roll through October. Moderate color can now be found across north Iowa. Mason City, Estherville, Orange City and Decorah are all reporting moderate color conditions ( 50% ). Color is this area is beginning to become abundant even brilliant in a …
Fall Color Report #1
It is that time of year once again! This is the first fall color report of the 2016 season but there really isn’t much to report, as least in Iowa. A warm late-summer time frame and plentiful summer rains seems to be putting a delay on fall colors across the state. Northern Iowa is reporting …