The dry weather continues, with sunshine and near average temperatures for this time of year. The air is fairly dry but with ample moisture in the ground, there should be no threat of any grass fires. Moisture will return Tuesday with a chance of showers and thunderstorms at that time. Severe weather looks unlikely for …
Category: Historical Weather
Historical WX: Palm Sunday 1965
Although this tornado outbreak mainly effected areas to the east of Iowa, its start was in the eastern part of the state. A Low pressure center was located over central Iowa on the morning of April 11th 1965. A Warm front extended eastward along northern Illinois, northern Indiana into Ohio. By midday, the first tornado …
An Interesting Note
96 years ago on March 23, 1913 a tornado blew across Omaha killing 115 people in Omaha. Several other tornadoes hit that Easter Sunday, including a tornado that hit Berlin NE, and another that missed the town of Harlan in Shelby County. In Iowa, 33 people died from the Easter Sunday Tornadoes, including 17 killed …
Historical WX: March 13th 1990
An Unseasonably warm spell brought an early season tornado outbreak to the midwest. Temperatures rose into the 60s and 70s. Low pressure moved along a stalled front over northwestern Iowa. As the low moved northeast, numerous severe thunderstorms developed. 2 F5 tornadoes dropped down in Kansas, with Hesston being the most devestated. In Iowa, the …
State Basketball and Snowstorms
Whenever the Boys and especially the girls are playing at the State Basketball tournament in Des Moines, there always been a very good chance of a major snow storm based on history over the last few years. A major snow storm on March 14th 1959 stranded spectators at Veterans Memorial Auditorium after Gladbrook had beaten …
Historical WX: 1899’s Arctic Outbreak
To really tell the story of this arctic outbreak would be like taking the outbreak Iowa had back in Mid-January and extending it by 10 or so more days in a row. The cold outbreak began on January 25th with an Alberta Clipper racing SE across the Dakotas. By the 26th a strong low was …
Historical WX: The Arctic Cold of 1996
A massive arctic high settled into the upper midwest from January 30th through February 4th in 1996. Temperatures nosedived below zero and stayed there for up to a week in some places. Schools were closed statewide in Minnesota and many schools in Iowa were closed during the peak of the cold spell on the 1st …
Historical WX: January 24-27th 1967
After a bitter arctic blast, I thought it was time to look at a warm day from the past in the state of Iowa. On January 24th 1967, a large storm system was developing in the central Rockies. By noon the center of the low pressure system was moving over the central portions of Iowa. …
Iowa Tornado Outbreak of 2005
The Iowa Tornado Outbreak of 2005 occurred on Saturday November 12th, 2005. Temperatures were in the low 60s on Saturday. A Vigorous system moved eastward from the plains. The SPC had a slight risk of severe weather for most of Iowa that day. Thunderstorms began early in the afternoon and by 4pm the storms began …
Armistice Day Blizzard of 1940
The Armistice Day Blizzard occurred on November 11th 1940. Now known as Veterans day, this blizzard was not well forecasted. Prior to this storm unusally warm weather was occurring with temperatures in the 50s and 60s, many hunters went out hunting given the warm weather and ideal conditions. Drastic temperature swings occurred with temperatures dropping …