(Radio Iowa) – Updated national maps now show there are two areas of extreme drought in Iowa. The state climatologist says the areas in northwest and east central Iowa have missed out on widespread heavier rains. According to the National Drought Mitigation Center, which produces the maps, conditions deteriorated significantly in several large patches in Iowa and Minnesota over the past week. Most of these areas have had up to six inches less than normal rainfall during the past 60 days and up to eight-and-a-half inches short of normal since early May.

All of Butler and Franklin Counties are now classified as in extreme drought, along with adjacent areas in Grundy, Hardin, Floyd, Bremer and Black Hawk Counties. In northwest Iowa, the extreme drought zone includes Dickinson, Emmett, Kossuth and Clay Counties.

Today: Partly cloudy w/scattered showers & isolated thunderstorms. High 81. S @ 5-10.
Tonight: P/Cldy. Low around 67. S @ 5-10.
Tomorrow: P/Cldy. High 90. SW @ 10-20.
Saturday: P/Cldy w/scattered shwrs & tstrms. High 88.
Sunday: Showers ending in the morning; P/Cldy, warm & humid. High in the lower 90’s.

Wednesday’s High in Atlantic was 79. Our Low was 53. We received .06″ rain overnight into early this morning. Last year on this date the High in Atlantic was 76 and the Low was 59. The Record High on this date was 1111 in 1918. The Record Low was 42 in 1978.

Today: Areas of fog this morning; Partly cloudy. High 83. SE @ 5-10.
Tonight: P/Cldy w/scattered showers. Low around 65. SE @ 5.
Tomorrow: P/Cldy w/scattered showers. High 82. S @ 10.
Friday: P/Cldy High near 90.
Saturday: P/Cldy. High again near 90.

Tuesday’s High in Atlantic was 80. Our Low this morning, 52. Last year on this date the High in Atlantic was 79 and the Low was 50. The Record High on this date was 110 in 1918. The Record Low was 38 in 1978.

The National Weather Service in Omaha reports a severe thunderstorm caused microburst wind damage south of Persia, in Harrison County (Iowa), last Friday, July 30th. The extent of damage suggested wind speeds around 100 mph. Several grain bins and barns sustained damage from this intense but fairly narrow wind event. Most of the damage was concentrated in a 1.15 square mile area. There were no injuries reported.

(Radio Iowa) – The finals days of July saw some blast furnace-type temperatures — but State Climatologist Just Glisan says they weren’t enough to push the month above average. He says when you combine them with the below-average days — things evened out to right around the average July temperature of 74 degrees. Glisan says some two to four-inch rains in the last few days of the month gave some areas above-average precipitation. But other areas of the state missed those quenching rains. “North of I-80 and east I-35 had drier than average conditions for the month. Precipitation deficits around Waterloo and Cedar Rapids, anywhere from two to four inches below average,” Glisan says.

He says some areas just haven’t been able to make up the precipitation shortfall through the first seven months of 2021. “The driest parts of the state — basically the northeastern corner of the state — precipitation deficits anywhere from six to eight below normal. Going back a full year — and the driest part of the state is in northwestern and west-central Iowa — and those precipitation deficits approach 20 inches. So, it’s been a very dry year,” he says.

Glisan says the dry pattern has done a total flip of the situation we had when 2018 and 2019 combined were the wettest two-year period since records have been kept. He says the calendar year temperature numbers don’t show anything unusual. Glisan says the average temperature of the first seven months never gets one or two degrees above or below the average.

Glisan says the July tornado outbreak that saw between 20 and 22 was the biggest blip on the record book — as there is an average of just seven confirmed tornadoes in the month.

(Radio Iowa) – The experts at the National Weather Service are still studying information they gathered from the outbreak of tornadoes across Iowa on July 14th. Meteorologist Alex Krull says they’re now lowering their original estimate of 26 tornadoes. “When we went back and looked at some satellite data after the event, we realized that there were a few tornadoes that we had considered two separate tornadoes had actually been just one track,” Krull says. “We were able to look at some of the crop damage via satellite to realize the tornado had stayed on the ground a little bit longer than what the surface damage survey we had conducted the day after the tornado had indicated.”

Their current thinking is there were between 20 and 22 tornadoes that struck that day, not 26, but the final report is still being compiled. Krull says improved technology with better satellites help with storm surveys. “When the tornado knocks down the corn, it’s going to reflect that sunlight back up to the satellite a little bit differently,” Krull says. “In some cases, you can even see the swirl marks from the tornado as it moves through. Rural parts of Iowa, this helps us to get a good idea of the track, especially if it doesn’t do any damage to trees or structures.”

The Lake City tornado was the most powerful that day. It was designated as an EF-3 and had estimated wind speeds as high as 145 miles per hour.

Today: **AIR QUALITY ALERT until Noon** Widespread fog haze this morning; otherwise partly cloudy. High 82. Light and variable wind.
Tonight: Fair to P/Cldy. Low around 54.
Tomorrow: P/Cldy. High around 84. SE @ 10.
Wednesday: P/Cldy. High near 86.
Thursday: P/Cldy to Cldy w/a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. High near 84.

Sunday’s High in Atlantic was 81. Our Low this morning, 53. Last year on this date the High in Atlantic was 80 and the Low was 49. The Record High on this date was 103 in 1930. The Record Low was 42 in 1907.

The month of July in Atlantic was about average, temperature wise, for the most part. The Average High of 86 was par for the month, and the Average Low of 61 was just two-degrees shy of normal. The warmest days were on July 28th and 29th, at 94 degrees each. The 11th was our coolest morning, at 53 degrees. Precipitation-wise, Atlantic was nearly one-quarter of an inch above average, at 4.87 inches for the month. Normally, we receive 4.62 inches of rain in July. The most rain fell on July 9th (1.22″) and the overnight early morning hours of July 30-31 (1.28″).

Looking ahead to the month of August, we can expected an Average High of 83-degrees, an Average Low of 61, and rain typically amounting to 3.88-inches. We’ll let you know how the data compared to the norm,  when we compile the data on September 1^st.

Today: Widespread haze between 9am and 11am. Sunny, with a high near 80. North wind 5 to 10 mph.
Tonight: Clear, with a low around 53. North northeast wind 5 to 7 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Monday: Sunny, with a high near 80. Light and variable wind.
Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 55. Calm wind.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 81. Calm wind becoming south around 6 mph in the morning.
Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 82.

Saturday’s High in Atlantic was 81. Our Low this morning, 57. Last year on this date the High in Atlantic was 84 and the Low was 54. The Record High on this date was 102 in 1897. The Record Low was 2 in 1898.