(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s dry conditions held about the same in the last week with around 70 percent of Iowa in some form of drought — and around 25 percent with severe drought conditions. D-N-R hydrologist, Tim Hall, says the overall picture is still better than we had one month ago. “The numbers are better from this time in June until now. We’ve reduced the coverage of drought across the northern part of the state — so the rains have helped,” Hall says. “All of southeastern Iowa across the southern tier of counties is free from drought and dryness.” Hall says.

He says the average stream flows across the state are around normal — which is a little misleading.”It’s really wet in southeastern Iowa. It’s kind of dry in north-central Iowa — so the average number belies the fact that there are areas of the state on either end of the extreme. Still the area that we are concerned about that were are trying to keep a careful watch on is north-central Iowa down through central Iowa through the Des Moines River and the Raccoon River.” Hall says the long-term forecast is a concern.

“So taking us through the end of July there’s very little rain in that forecast for most of the state of Iowa. So, dry conditions, not a lot of rainfall. We might expect to see a deterioration on the landscape that would be reflected in the drought monitor,” Hall says. Hall says we are in a situation where things can flip in a real positive direction or go the other way in a real negative direction depending on how much rainfall does come.

“We might expect to see some downgrading of parts of the state here in the next couple of weeks unless we get some rain,” according to Hall. The new drought monitor will come out on Thursday.

Skyscan Forecast  Saturday, July 24, 2021  Dan Hicks

Today: Partly cloudy. S @ 5-10. High 93.

Tonight: Fair to partly cloudy. Light and variable winds. Low 70.

Sunday: Partly cloudy. S @ 5-10. High 93.

Sunday Night: Partly cloudy. Light S winds. Low 65.

Monday: Partly cloudy. A few isolated thunderstorms. High 91.

Tuesday: Partly cloudy. High 94.

Today: Partly cloudy. High 92. Southwest wind 10-15 mph, with gusts to around 20.
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 71. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Saturday: P/Cldy. High near 93. S/SW @ 5-10.
Sunday: P/Cldy. High near 92.
Monday: P/Cldy w/isolated showers and thunderstorms. High around 91.

Thursday’s High in Atlantic was 84. Our Low this morning, 69. Last year on this date the High in Atlantic was 88 and the Low was 60. The Record High on this date was 105 in 1901. The Record Low was 45 in 1904 & 1956.

Area Counties: Adams-Union-Taylor-Ringgold-Mills-Montgomery-Fremont-Page
317 AM CDT Fri Jul 23 2021

…HEAT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM NOON SATURDAY UNTIL 8 PM CDT SATURDAY…

* WHAT…High temperatures in the mid 90s with heat index values up to 105 expected.

* IMPACTS…Hot temperatures and high humidity may cause heat illnesses to occur.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young
children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances. Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside.

When possible reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or  evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat  stroke. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing when possible. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location.

Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1.

(Radio Iowa) – The Climate Prediction Center of the National Weather Service is issuing a La Nina Watch for later this year. Cooler than normal Pacific Ocean surface temperatures lead to the formation of a La Nina, which can cause cooler, wetter conditions in Iowa and across much of North America. Meteorologist Doug Kluck, with the National Weather Service in Kansas City, says we just had a La Nina pattern fade away several months ago. “Two La Ninas in a row or two winters with La Nina activity or signs in the equator aren’t that unusual,” Kluck says. “Actually, it does tend to happen fairly often that you have back-to-back years of La Nina.”

Historically, La Ninas have caused below-normal temperatures across much of the Northern Plains states. An El Nino can bring weather extremes, including severe drought or severe flooding. Kluck says the last La Nina, which evaporated this past spring, didn’t have the normal impacts. “A lot of people attribute a lot of things to that and I’m not sure we can in North America,” Kluck says. “We saw last year wasn’t a typical La Nina year in terms of when it was supposed to get cold. The Northern Plains, for example, were supposed to be perhaps cooler and wetter than normal. That wasn’t the case.”

Kluck says the issuing of the watch means it’s anticipated there will be a formation of a La Nina by late fall and into winter.

(Radio Iowa) – It’s been pretty hot in Iowa in recent weeks, but our grandparents or great-grandparents might recall another sweltering summer many decades ago that was much worse. National Weather Service meteorologist Brooke Hagenhoff says you’d have to go back 85 years to find when many Iowa communities had their all-time steamiest summer. “July of 1936 is the hottest month on record,” Hagenhoff says. “In fact, there were 15 days that had temperatures over 100 degrees, including eight days straight of 100-plus-degree temperatures.” While Iowa is experiencing moderate to severe drought conditions now, we’re still not seeing anything like it was in during the Dustbowl Days of 1936.

“Not only was it really hot, it was extremely dry,” Hagenhoff says. “In fact, only six-hundreds of an inch of rain fell during the entire month of July.” Even though Iowa has come a long way since the 1930s, with modern air conditioning in our homes and vehicles, heat remains the number-one weather killer in the state, not lightning, flooding, tornadoes or anything else. That long-ago summer was also exceptionally deadly. “By July 15th of 1936 in Iowa alone, there were over 232 fatalities due to the heat,” Hagenhoff says, “and there would be more that would occur later that summer as well.”

High temperatures for the next several days are expected to climb into the 80s and 90s for much of the state.

(Radio Iowa) – Forecasters say temperatures across much of Iowa will be climbing into the low to mid 90s for the next several days and pet owners are being reminded about what should be obvious by now. Four dogs were left in hot vehicles in Des Moines last weekend. Joe Stafford, Director of Animal Services at the Animal Rescue League of Iowa, says in one case, two dogs were trapped in a locked car at Blank Park Zoo. “It was into the low to mid 80s at the time and the inside of the car reached 109 degrees,” Stafford says. “There were two dogs left in the car by a customer of the zoo that appeared to be in distress. Luckily, the Des Moines Police Department was quick to respond.”

The owner of the vehicle was paged in the zoo but didn’t respond, so police broke out a window to rescue the animals, both of which were conscious but with very high body temperatures. Stafford says, “They just needed to be cooled down by putting them into an air-conditioned vehicle, giving them water and eventually, transporting them back to our facility so they could be checked out by our medical staff.” In the other case, two dogs were left in a vehicle at Merle Hay Mall. In addition to having broken windows, each of the owners were issued citations for neglect.

ARL photo

Leaving a window cracked open does virtually no good for cooling the passenger compartment, Stafford says, and neither does parking in the shade.

“Anything over 80 degrees, just leave your furry family members at home where they’re safe and comfortable,” Stafford says. “Take them on a car ride to the dog park or something if we’re looking to go for a car ride but just do not leave animals unattended in a vehicle.” In his 20-plus years in the industry, Stafford says he hears about cases like these every summer and he’s confounded as to why some pet owners don’t ever seem to get the message. “When your vehicle has been parked out in the sun, go get in your vehicle and try to sit in it for ten minutes,” Stafford says. “Most people will find that you’re immediately perspiring as your body is trying to keep itself cool. If you’re reacting that way, your animals are certainly going to react that way because most of them are wearing a fairly heavy fur coat.”

He urges Iowans, if you see a pet (or a child) alone in a car, call it in, as your action could save a life. For more information on summer pet safety tips: https://www.arl-iowa.org/news/pet-tips-/5-summer-heat-safety-tips-for-pets/.

(Radio Iowa) – Forecasters say it’ll likely be dry much of this week, but last week’s heavy thunderstorms brought some areas of the state four and even five inches of rainfall. Still, overall precipitation is still well below normal in northwest Iowa. Iowa State University Extension field agronomist Joel DeJong says with corn is getting into the pollination phase and more rain would be a big help.

“Four or five inches below normal right now, yet, even after some pretty good rain since the first of July,” DeJong says. “Our timing was about perfect for the rainfall because we’re not quite at 50% silked at this stage but we’re starting to see a lot more silks on those corn plants and it is that critical time period.” DeJong says Iowa’s soybean fields will soon be entering a critical phase, too.

“August is much more critical for beans,” DeJong says. “It’s really nice to have some moisture now so we can really try to accelerate some of that growth and development, get those rows closed as fast as we can.” DeJong says they haven’t seen any real disease issues with the crops but bugs -are- becoming a problem for some growers.

“We’ve had some insect issues, gall midges along the edges of soybean fields,” he says, “and I’m getting several calls about corn kind of lodged, particularly on continuous corn acres that have some rootworm injury. We’re seeing beetle numbers get high in those fields so we need to watch those silks to make sure they’re not getting clipped by beetles and so we can pollinate that corn crop.”

DeJong encourages producers to scout their fields and make sure those kernels get pollinated as this is the critical time for corn.