Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 78. Windy, with a south wind 14 to 19 mph increasing to 21 to 26 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 37 mph.

Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 47. Breezy, with a south southwest wind 7 to 16 mph becoming west northwest after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 23 mph.

Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 66. West wind 8 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.

Saturday Night: Clear, with a low around 38. West northwest wind 5 to 7 mph becoming calm in the evening.

Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 68. Light and variable wind becoming east southeast 5 to 10 mph in the morning.

Sunday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers after 1am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 48.

Columbus Day: A chance of showers and thunderstorms, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 1pm. Cloudy, with a high near 62. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Monday Night: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Cloudy, with a low around 50. Chance of precipitation is 70%.

Tuesday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 55.

The Shelby County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) says residents in the area should avoid outdoor burning today (Thursday). Windy conditions are expected to persist throughout the day, exacerbating any potential fire danger that exists under the current, dry conditions. In addition, the Fire Danger Index in Shelby County will continue to be in the “Moderate” category until at least Monday.

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Early This Morning: Mostly clear. South wind 5 to 10 mph.

Today: Mostly sunny. Breezy. High around 80. South wind 5 to 15 mph increasing to 15 to 20 mph with gusts to around 30 mph in the afternoon.

Tonight: Mostly clear. Low in the mid 50s. South wind 10 to 15 mph.

Friday: Partly sunny. A slight chance of light showers and isolated thunderstorms in the morning. A slight chance of light showers and isolated thunderstorms late in the afternoon. Breezy. High in the upper 70s. South wind 15 to 25 mph with gusts to around 35 mph. Chance of precipitation 20 percent.

Friday Night And Saturday: Mostly clear. Cooler. Low in the upper 40s. High in the mid 60s. Northwest wind 5 to 15 mph.

Saturday Night: Mostly clear. Low around 40.

Sunday: Partly sunny. High in the mid 60s.

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Today: Sunny, with a high near 76. Breezy, with a south wind 9 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph.
Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 51. South southeast wind 7 to 11 mph.

Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 80. Breezy, with a south wind 8 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.
Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 57. South southeast wind 10 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Friday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 80. Windy, with a south wind 14 to 23 mph, with gusts as high as 34 mph.
Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 50.

Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 67.

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Due to the Federal government shutdown, the USDA National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS) has not completed the weekly crop progress and condition report that is released weekly during the growing season. Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey issued a statement Monday on harvest progress, however.

Northey said “Unfortunately due to the Federal government shutdown we will not have a crop progress report this week. In general, what I’m hearing from around the state is that many farmers were able to start harvesting before the wet weather moved in late last week. If we get several days of dry, warm weather this week as forecasted, that will help crops dry down and farmers will again be busy harvesting both corn and soybeans.”

State Climatologist Harry Hillaker, with the Iowa Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship says weather-wise, the big news of the week was the severe weather impacting northwestern Iowa on Friday (4th) evening. Damage surveys are ongoing, however it would appear that this was Iowa’s largest tornado event for so late in the year since the outbreak of November 12, 2005. Tornado damage was reported from Woodbury, Plymouth, Cherokee and Buena Vista counties with large hail and high winds reported from an additional 15 counties across north central, southwest and central Iowa.

The past reporting week began with dry weather prevailing from Sunday (29th) through Wednesday (2nd) afternoon. Thunderstorms developed over western Iowa late Wednesday and spread across far northern and far southern Iowa on Thursday (3rd) morning. Thunderstorms brought widespread moderate to heavy rain from west central into east central Iowa late Thursday into Friday afternoon with a few reports of large hail and high wind in central Iowa. Friday evening’s storms were mostly confined to about the northwest one-half of the state with the heaviest rains centered upon Worth, Mitchell and Floyd counties. Weekly rain totals varied from only 0.02 inches at Fairfield to 5.19 inches near Colwell in Floyd County.

The statewide average precipitation was 1.19 inches while normal for the week is 0.69 inches. This was Iowa’s wettest week in 14 weeks (late June). Meanwhile, unseasonably warm and humid air dominated the state from Monday (30th) through Friday (4th) with afternoon highs reaching into the 80’s each day over much of Iowa. Sunday (29th) and Saturday (5th) at the beginning and end of the period brought seasonal temperatures. Temperature extremes varied from afternoon highs of 88 degrees at Sioux City on Wednesday (2nd) and at Donnellson, Fort Madison and Keokuk on Friday (4th) to Saturday (5th) morning lows of 37 degrees at Hawarden, Le Mars, Rock Rapids, Sibley and Sioux Center. Temperatures for the week as a whole averaged 7.7 degrees above normal.

343 AM CDT TUE OCT 8 2013

EARLY THIS MORNING…CLEAR. SOUTH WIND 5 TO 10 MPH.

TODAY…SUNNY…BREEZY. HIGH IN THE UPPER 70S. SOUTH WIND 10 TO 20 MPH INCREASING TO 20 TO 25 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON. GUSTS UP TO 35 MPH.

TONIGHT…MOSTLY CLEAR. LOW IN THE LOWER 50S. SOUTH WIND 10 TO 15 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 25 MPH.

WEDNESDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. BREEZY. HIGH IN THE UPPER 70S. SOUTH WIND 10 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 30 MPH.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY…MOSTLY CLEAR. BREEZY. LOW IN THE LOWER 50S. HIGH IN THE UPPER 70S. SOUTH WIND 5 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 30 MPH.

THURSDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE UPPER 50S.

FRIDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. A 30 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. BREEZY. HIGH IN THE MID 70S. LOW IN THE LOWER 50S.

Officials with the Iowa Storm Chasing Network said today (Monday), the Wayne, NE tornado  measured nearly 1.4-miles wide, and is the widest tornado to ever occur in the month of October since 1950. The National Weather Service said Sunday, the tornado was rated an EF-4 with peak winds reaching 170mph.

It was on the ground for 19 miles and injured 15 people. The Weather Service says October tornadoes are unusual, but not unheard of. Last year, there were 41 tornadoes nationwide in October.