The calendar says summer won’t start for almost two weeks but it’ll feel hot and humid across much of Iowa today (Monday) and it’ll get even hotter tomorrow. Meteorologist Craig Cogil, at the National Weather Service office in Johnston, says it’s a very sticky start to the week.  “We’re going to see some warm air that’s currently over the plains move into the state with temperatures pushing into the lower 90s by tomorrow afternoon,” Cogil says, “so much warmer than anything we’ve seen so far.”

Sioux City had a high of 90 degrees on March 16th for the earliest recorded temperature in the 90s. Cogil said the hot, sticky weather will only be around for a few days. “We’ve been rather fortunate in the past year or so where we haven’t seen a lot of the hot weather that we’d seen in the previous years,” he says, “and so far this year, it’s followed in that path.”

Cogil says there’s a chance of thunderstorms starting Wednesday night with the possibility of some heavy rain in a few places. “Right now, it does look like a good threat of heavy rainfall, especially over the northern half of the state,” he says, “anywhere between two to four inches, in general.”

The thunderstorm chances will continue through the weekend with daytime highs dropping slightly into the 70s and 80s.

(Radio Iowa)