The (Podcast) weather forecast for Atlantic & the KJAN listening area, from Freese-Notis Meteorologist Harvey Freese, and weather data for Atlantic, from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson…

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This year’s historic Midwest drought is having an impact on all crops — including popcorn. Gary Smith is President of the American Popcorn Company, the parent company of Jolly Time Popcorn. The company is based in Sioux City and has contracts with farmers in northwest Iowa and northeast Nebraska to grow the company’s popcorn. Smith describes this year’s crop as “okay,” especially when compared with conditions in other parts of the country.

“There is going to be a popcorn shortage because Indiana burnt up in June even, I mean, they didn’t even get started. And we’ve got a lot of competitors in the eastern cornbelt,” Smith says. Smith says about 90-percent of the company’s popcorn is grown under irrigation in northeast Nebraska. He says the dryland popcorn grown in the Sac City, Iowa area is in decent shape having received some rain in July that didn’t fall elsewhere. Still, he says there may be some quality issues in this year’s popcorn.

“I think the test weights will be down. When the test weights are down, then maybe your pops aren’t quite as good, we might struggle with quality issues, but that’s the way Mother Nature treats the product. And I’m just grateful we’re going to have a crop,” Smith says. With field corn prices at, or near, all-time record highs,- popcorn companies have to pay more to prevent farmers from switching away from popcorn production. Smith says the company is already paying record-high contracts to farmers, and he expects the contracts to be higher again next year. He worries, though, about an eventual consumer backlash.

“We’re at the highest point we’ve ever been because of the price of corn. Now with the drought, corn prices have rallied more, and so we’re looking at another increase, which is a big worry,” according to Smith. “Because at some point, America’s consumer is gonna say ‘your products too expensive, I don’t want you any more,’ and I don’t think we’ve gotten there yet. But where is that threshold? I’m not absolutely sure.” The American Popcorn Company has been in business for 98 years. Smith is a fourth-generation family member involved with the company.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has released its latest Water Summary Update. Officials say prior to the rains of August 8th, precipitation averaged 50 percent less than normal for the last two weeks. Shallow groundwater levels in parts of Iowa are at or near historic lows. Recent rainfall has helped to lower water demand, but has not impacted shallow groundwater levels. There have been reports in eastern Iowa, of private wells being drilled deeper or having pumps lowered to meet water demand.

The number of streams with “protected flow” (cannot be used for irrigation) have been reduced from 22 to 19. Streams in most of southwest Iowa are below normal flow, and the report shows shallow groundwater in all of southwest Iowa is not enough to meet the demand for irrigation. More than two-thirds of the State are now under Extreme Drought conditions, including every county stretching from northern Boone County southwest, through northwestern Fremont County. Cass County and the northwestern tip of Adair County are included in the Extreme Drought conditions, while the remaining southwest and south central counties are under Severe Drought conditions.

The past two weeks continued to be mostly hotter and drier than normal weather across Iowa. Temperatures averaged 4 degrees above normal while precipitation averaged 0.60 inches less than normal for the period. Rain totals varied from no rain at Underwood in western Iowa to nearly four inches at Nevada through August 6th. Storms on August 8th (after the cut-off time for the drought
monitor and for the precipitation map) resulted in a statewide average of 0.34  inches of rain, with almost everyone in the state seeing some rain. Among the areas with the most rain, was Audubon, Harrison, Page, and Shelby counties.

For a more thorough review of Iowa’s water resource trends July 23 through August 8, go to http://www.iowadnr.gov/watersummaryupdate. The report is prepared by the technical staff from the Iowa DNR, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, and the USGS, in collaboration with the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The latest U.S. Drought Monitor map shows conditions have worsened in the Corn Belt states of Iowa and Nebraska.  The map shows extreme drought has spread further into the western half of Iowa and covers all but a small section of southeast Nebraska, where severe drought is occurring. A few counties in central Nebraska are still listed as being under exceptional drought conditions.  The drought map is a project shared by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Weather Service. The latest map is based on conditions as of 6 a.m. Tuesday, so it doesn’t reflect rainfall from storms that passed through parts of both states later Tuesday and on Wednesday.

The (podcast) Freese-Notis forecast for Atlantic and the KJAN listening area, and weather data for Atlantic….

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Storms erupted over eastern Nebraska and western and central Iowa, Wednesday, with reports of strong winds, hail and rain. The National Weather Service says storms that developed Wednesday afternoon may have produced a funnel cloud near Howells in Colfax County. No damage or injuries were reported. In Saunders County, hail covered the ground near Morse Bluff. Hail and heavy rain were also reported in the Carroll area, including some half-dollar sized amounts just at around 2:10-p.m. Scranton had quarter-sized hail fall at around 2:40-p.m.

Elswhere in Iowa, winds of up to 70 miles per hour caused some property damage and scattered power outages in Fremont County, near Sidney, Farragut and Shenandoah, as those areas were hit by strong winds between 6:30 and 7:15-p.m. Hail and torrential rain were reported in the Des Moines area. Tree limbs were down in the metro and its suburbs, with minor hail damage to cars. Some intersections were also flooded from heavy rain.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 566 REMAINS VALID UNTIL 1 AM CDT THURSDAY FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS IN IOWA: THIS WATCH INCLUDES 5 COUNTIES IN SOUTHWEST IOWA FREMONT MILLS MONTGOMERY PAGE POTTAWATTAMIE

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NEBRASKA

720 PM CDT WED AUG 8 2012

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN OMAHA HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR…

PAGE COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST IOWA…

* UNTIL 800 PM CDT

* AT 716 PM CDT…DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM

CAPABLE OF PRODUCING QUARTER SIZE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS IN

EXCESS OF 60 MPH. THIS STORM WAS LOCATED NEAR COIN…OR 19 MILES

NORTH OF TARKIO…AND MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH.

* LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE…

CLARINDA…SHENANDOAH…ESSEX…COIN…COLLEGE SPRINGS…

SHAMBAUGH…YORKTOWN AND NORTHBORO.

15 PM CDT WED AUG 8 2012

…SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SOUTHWESTERN POTTAWATTAMIE

COUNTY UNTIL 745 PM CDT…

AT 711 PM CDT…NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS

TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR COUNCIL BLUFFS…OR 11 MILES

EAST OF OMAHA…MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH.

HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF DIMES AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH WILL BE

POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM.

LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE…

OAKLAND…TREYNOR…CARSON…MACEDONIA…CRESCENT AND MCCLELLAND.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 100 AM CDT

THURSDAY MORNING FOR SOUTHWESTERN IOWA AND EAST CENTRAL NEBRASKA.

656 PM CDT WED AUG 8 2012

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN OMAHA HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR…

SOUTHEASTERN FREMONT COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST IOWA…

SOUTHWESTERN PAGE COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST IOWA…

* UNTIL 730 PM CDT

* AT 652 PM CDT…DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM

CAPABLE OF PRODUCING QUARTER SIZE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS IN

EXCESS OF 60 MPH. THIS STORM WAS LOCATED NEAR SIDNEY…OR 25 MILES

NORTHWEST OF TARKIO…AND MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

* LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE…

SHENANDOAH…SIDNEY…FARRAGUT…RIVERTON…COIN…

RANDOLPH AND NORTHBORO.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH…

DESTRUCTIVE HAIL…DEADLY LIGHTNING AND VERY HEAVY RAIN. FOR YOUR

PROTECTION…MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR

HOME OR BUSINESS. HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO DO NOT DRIVE

INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.