(Radio Iowa) – All of the counties across the northern third of Iowa wrapped up the month as the 10th driest September on record, which is significant given that’s over one-and-a-half centuries of record keeping. Most of that region was two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half inches below normal for rainfall. State climatologist Justin Glisan says it’s no surprise the summer ended up being extremely dry overall.  (Atlantic’s Weather data can be found here: https://www.kjan.com/index.php/2022/10/september-oct-2022-weather-data-for-atlantic/)

“We averaged a little over 10 inches across the state and that’s about three-and-a-half inches below normal,” Glisan says, “so, 58th warmest summer out of 150 years of records but also the 29th driest summer in 150 years of records, so that’s where we really saw drought expand.” The statewide average temperature for September was 65-degrees, which is about one-and-a-half degrees warmer than normal. He says the summer overall wrapped up just slightly warmer than normal, too.

“The average temperature was about 73 degrees and that’s a little over a degree above normal, so a warmer summer but not a scorcher,” Glisan says. “We, of course, had heat waves and we also had some cooler periods, so those somewhat balanced out when we look at temperature.” He notes Iowa is heading into October in much the same condition as last year, following an exceptionally dry summer.

“Luckily, October of 2021 was the eighth-wettest on record, which really staved off expansion and degradation of drought,” Glisan says, “but we need months and months of above-average precipitation as we move through fall, winter and 2023 to really start recovering, namely northwestern Iowa, but also much of southern Iowa.” While we can rejoice that there have been relatively few tornadoes in Iowa this year, and even few severe storms, but that carries a dual result.

“We’re tailing off in terms of severe weather events,” Glisan says. “June and July are the hotspots, even into May. Lack of severe weather translates into lack of thunderstorms and that translates into a lack of rainfall and hence, we saw drought conditions expand across much of the state.” Iowa is two-and-a-half years into the drought now and Glisan says if we go back to early 2020, some areas of northwest Iowa have a significant precipitation deficit of 15- to 25-inches below normal for rainfall.

(Radio Iowa) – As dry conditions persist, particularly in northwest Iowa, many city water systems have asked customers to voluntarily conserve water. Todd Uhl, the public works director in Sheldon, says there’s no emergency yet, but things are going slowly in the wrong direction and mandatory water restrictions may be on the horizon. “As this drought continues, if we don’t get a good recharge this fall, winter, next spring — we will be on mandatory restrictions next spring for sure,” Uhl says. “I’m not saying we wouldn’t switch to them sometime this winter, but obviously restrictions going into this time of year don’t mean as much as they do in times when outside watering is more of a thing.”

There’s plenty of water in both of Sheldon’s deep wells, but Uhl says the quality of water in those deep wells have lower quality water. The community’s supply of high quality water comes from a series of shallow wells along the Floyd River and northwest of Sheldon and Uhl says the water levels in THOSE wells are dropping. “The static level, which is the level of the amount of water in the well when the pumps aren’t running, we’re seeing those levels decline. They’v been declining slowly this whole summer — not to the level where we’ve slammed on the panic button yet, but it’s going to be a concern if we don’t get recharge this winter or next spring, Sheldon will be on mandatory restrictions next summer,” Uhl says. “We will not be able to sustain another year of this.”

If the water situation doesn’t improve, Uhl describes what “mandatory restrictions” would look like. “No use of water for non-essential purposes, so basically you can use water for human consumption and that’s it,” Uhl says, “There’ll be no lawn watering. They’ll be no garden watering. There’ll be no flower garden watering. There’ll be no washing of cars. We’ll try not to limit the use of car washes and stuff that are doing it for a living, but we’re going to have to have people cut back.”

But the VOLUNTARY restrictions are what are in place in Sheldon today. The Lewis & Clark Regional Water System is due to connect in Sheldon by 2024 or, perhaps, at the end of 2023 and Uhl says that would also help the situation.

(Radio Iowa) – Some farmers in northwest and north-central Iowa are finding their crops damaged from last week’s cold snap. Angie Rieck Hinz, a field agronomist with the Iowa State University Extension, says the frost had the greatest effect on soybean fields. “There are some later-planted soybeans that were impacted by that frost because we did get cold enough those mornings that we were below 32 in some places,” Rieck Hinz says, “so usually we think a killing frost is about 28 degrees for soybeans.” Some pockets of the state did dip into the upper 20s at least two mornings, and a number of fields got nipped. Most farmers will still be able to save the majority of their crops. “It’s just going to take a little bit longer for them to dry down, so harvest is usually delayed a little bit,” she says. “We want them at a certain moisture and it’s going to take a little bit longer after they’ve been frosted to get to that point.”

The color on the soybeans is a key factor after a frost. “We’re always concerned about handling those frost-damaged beans or putting them into the commercial market because if the beans weren’t mature and they were still a little green, it’s pretty easy to get docked at the co-op for those green soybeans,” Rieck Hinz says. “We would advise never to put those green beans or greenish beans directly into the market.” She says aerating the soybeans may bring about a color change so they’re more of a mature tan. Most of Iowa’s corn crop is mature and ready — or close to ready — for harvest, so frost damage to the corn was minimal. “We, in some cases, were at full maturity or at black layer, but there were some fields that were still in that really late dent stage, so we can anticipate some minor yield loss there.”

High temperatures for the next several days are expected in the 70s with lows in the 50s, ideal harvest weather, with more cold moving in Thursday and Friday.

(Atlantic, Iowa – KJAN) – The month of September, here in Atlantic, was both warmer and cooler than average, and certainly drier than it should have been. Weather records compiled at KJAN (the OFFICIAL National Weather Service data site for Atlantic) show we were a little more than 2-degrees warmer than the average of 77, departing with an average of 79.3 degrees. On the Low side, we came in just four-tenths of an inch cooler, at 49.6-degrees. Rainfall, typically 3.45-inches in September, came in at just 1.07-inches for the month.

Here’s what the stats normally are for October:

• Avg. High, 64.1
• Avg. Low, 39.0
• Avg. Precipitation, 2.76 inches.

Today: Partly cloudy & breezy. High near 80. South southeast wind 10 to 20 mph.

Tonight: P/Cldy. Low around 50. SE @ 5-10 mph.

Tomorrow: P/Cldy. High 80. S @ 10-20.

Wednesday: P/Cldy. High 78.

Thursday: P/Cldy. High 66.

Sunday’s High in Atlantic was 78. The Low was 44. Last year on this date, the High in Atlantic was 77 and the Low, 43. The Record High was 95 in 1997. The Record Low was 23 in 2010.

Today: Sunny, with a high near 76. Calm wind becoming southeast 5 to 9 mph in the morning.
Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 49. Southeast wind 3 to 6 mph.
Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 78. South wind 6 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
Monday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 51. South southeast wind around 8 mph.
Tuesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 79. South wind 7 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.
Tuesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 54.
Wednesday: A 20 percent chance of showers after 1pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 74.

Saturday’s High in Atlantic was 77. The Low was 41. Last year on this date, the High in Atlantic was 70 and the Low, 61. The Record High was 93 in 1892. The Record Low was 18 in 1974.

Skyscan Forecast  Saturday, October 1, 2022  Austin Romer

Today: Mostly clear. Warmer. SE @ 10. High 75.

Tonight: Mostly clear. SE @ 10. Low 49.

Sunday: Mostly clear. SE @ 10. High 77.

Sunday Night: Mostly clear. SE @ 10. Low 48.

Monday: Partly cloudy. SE @ 10. High 79.

Tuesday: Cloudy. S @ 10. High 82.

Yesterday’s high was 75 and the low was 41. This day last year the high was 76 and the low 61. The all-time record high was 96 set in 1892. The record low was 23 set in 1908 and again in 1984. Sunrise is at 7:16 a.m. and sunset will be at 7:02 p.m.

Skyscan Forecast  Friday, September 30, 2022  Dan Hicks

Today: Partly cloudy. SE @ 10. High 75.

Tonight: Partly cloudy. S @ 5-10. Low 50.

Saturday: Partly cloudy. SE @ 10-20. High 78.

Saturday Night: Mostly clear. Low 48.

Sunday: Partly cloudy. High 80.

Monday: Partly cloudy. High 80.

Yesterday’s high was 74 and the low was 34. This day last year the high was 84 and te low 68. The all-time record high was 92 set in 1994. The record low was 21 in 1984. Sunrise today is 7:15 a.m. and sunset tonight is 7:04 p.m.