Today: Widespread haze before noon, then widespread haze after 4pm. Sunny, with a high near 82. East wind 3 to 7 mph.
Tonight: A slight chance of sprinkles before 8pm. Widespread haze before 8pm. Mostly clear, with a low around 60. East wind around 6 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 83. Calm wind becoming east around 6 mph in the morning.
Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 60. Light and variable wind.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 86. Light and variable wind.
Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 62.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 87.

Saturday’s High in Atlantic was 83. Our Low this morning, 57. Last year on this date the High in Atlantic was 92 and the Low was 73. The Record High on this date was 107 in 1936. The Record Low was 44 in 1953.

Today: Areas of fog this morning; Partly Cloudy. High 83. E @ 5-10.

Tonight: Fair to P/Cldy. Low 63.

Tomorrow: P/Cldy. High 84. SE @ 10.

Monday: P/Cldy w/isolated showers possible. High 85.

Tuesday: P/Cldy. High 86.

Friday’s High in Atlantic was 83. Our Low was 59. Last year on this date the High in Atlantic was 93 and the Low was 70. The Record High on this date was 109 in 1936. The Record Low was 45 in 1911.

(Des Moines) – Officials with the National Weather Service in Johnston have issued a summary of the tornadic activity that occurred across Iowa, Wednesday. According to the report, supercells developed over portions of north-central Iowa on the afternoon of Wednesday, July 14, 2021. The environment was ripe for tornadic development and rotation was evident on radar shortly after storms formed. Generally south of along the Highway 20 corridor was the hot spot for tornadoes from around Nemaha, Lake City, Stanhope, Jewell, and Waverly. Tornadoes were reported around Dysart and south of Mason City. Heavy rain cause flash flooding in Maxwell and ping pong hail was reported in Clarksville.

• At least 12 confirmed tornadoes in our warning area of central Iowa
• Five (5) tornadoes were surveyed by NWS personnel on July 15.
• With the exception of the tornado that started west/south of Lake City and ended about 10 miles away near Lohrville, and which rated an EF-3 with winds of 136-to 145-mph, the other four tornadoes were rated EF-1 on the Fujita Scale. There were no injuries reported.
• Preliminarily, there were 26 tornadoes across the state as of today (July 16, 2021). This makes it the 3rd most tornadoes in a single day since records began in 1980. However, the total number of tornadoes from July 14, 2021 will change as further data is analyzed in the coming days and weeks.
• Additional tornadoes will be rated in the coming days in coordination with emergency management along with the use of high resolution satellite, which will help to refine track details. Those results will be available from new Public Information Statements.

Today: Areas of fog this morning; Partly Cloudy. High 82. NE @ 10.

Tonight: P/Cldy. Low 63.

Tomorrow: P/Cldy. High 83. E @ 10.

Sunday: P/Cldy. High 84.

Monday: P/Cldy. High 85.

Thursday’s High in Atlantic was 81. We received .51″ rain. Our Low this morning, 58. Last year on this date, the High in Atlantic was 86 and the Low was 56. The All-Time Record High was 109 in 1936. The Record w was 45 in 1906.

(Radio Iowa) – Nobody knows yet just how many tornadoes touched down in Iowa Wednesday afternoon and evening, but the National Weather Service says there were at least 12 and perhaps as many as 16. Miraculously, there are no injuries reported, but there’s damage to homes, businesses, trees and power lines across central and eastern Iowa. Meteorologist Brooke Hagenhoff, at the National Weather Service in metro Des Moines, says they’re sending survey crews to the worst-hit communities. “The most important thing is to go to the areas that had the most damage,” Hagenhoff says. “That for us today is going to be in Calhoun and Hamilton counties and also Bremer and Butler counties, and we’ll also likely swing through Tama County where Dysart got some damage.”

In this age where practically everyone has a smartphone, she says there’s plenty of evidence to sift through documenting the storm cells, large and small. “For areas where the tornado maybe remained in open farmland and didn’t cause as much damage, a lot of those tornado ratings can be determined based off of the video and pictures that we get rather than visiting the site directly,” Hagenhoff says, “especially if it didn’t strike a home or cause any injuries.”

The Johnston office of the Weather Service covers western and central Iowa, where Hagenhoff says “at least a dozen” tornadoes were reported. Of those, one is standing out. “Based off of video and pictures that we’ve seen, the Lake City tornado in Calhoun County appears to be the largest one,” Hagenhoff says. “Sometimes, the ones that are visually the largest may not actually be the strongest, but right now it looks like they’ve got the damage and just the size we’ve seen in pictures.” Calhoun County was under two separate tornado warnings that lasted until shortly before 7 PM. Mid-American Energy confirmed Wednesday night, that nearly 1,400 Calhoun County residents were without power. Mid-American Energy issued an update on Thursday morning that said they had restored power to over half of those residents. No deaths or injuries were reported as a result of the tornado.

Tom Philip is a meteorologist at the Davenport office of the National Weather Service, which covers Iowa’s eastern third. “We’ve got some crews going out to survey a couple of counties in different areas,” Philip says. “They’re headed to Jones County, Delaware County, Benton and Linn County.”  Philip would only say the damage in eastern Iowa is from four “possible” tornadoes.  “There may have been more but that’s why we’re going out to survey to determine paths and strength,” Philip says, “and whether or not they were tornadoes, too, or just straight-line winds.”

Tornadoes were reported in or near the following communities: Dysart, Gowrie, Jewell, Lake City, Manchester, Mason City, Monticello, Nemaha, Stanhope, Stratford and Waverly. In Story County, the town of Maxwell had more than five-and-a-half inches of rain, which brought flash flooding. Clarksville reported hail the size of ping pong balls. A Waverly man was reportedly trapped in his home for a time by downed trees and power lines, but he wasn’t hurt. Forecasters say a few scattered showers remain today but the next several days should bring relatively calm weather, with mostly clear skies and highs in the 80s.

(Radio Iowa) – A line of severe storms swept through Iowa Wednesday, with trained spotters confirming more than a dozen tornadoes. Tornadoes started touching the ground in north central Iowa late Wednesday afternoon, along the Highway 20 corridor and to the east of Interstate 35. Just after 10 p.m., National Weather Service radar confirmed a tornado east of Monticello. Farmsteads, the school bus shed in Lake City, the football stadium in Oelwein and the sale barn in Manchester are among the facilities damaged. Just before 8 pm, spotters reported a tornado on the ground southwest of Manchester and another touchdown to the north. Delaware County Emergency Management Director Mike Ryan. “I thought: ‘Oh no, here we go. We’ve finally got that one night where we’ve got one that cuts a path through town on us,'” he says. “It affected some folks and then it just dissipated.”

There was minor damage to a convenience store’s building and vehicles on the lot. The Delaware County Fair is underway this week and about 15-hundred people were evacuated from the fairgrounds. Ryan says about five years ago, the fair board updated its emergency response plans. “We did a two-and-a-half hour exercise where we challenged that plan this spring,” Ryan says, “and tonight’s an example of why we do this stuff.” A tornado touched down west of Lake City shortly before 4 p.m. Eric Wood is the city administrator in Lake City. “A lot of trees, most of the power lines are down,” he says.”The school’s bus barn lost its roof. Bowie International lost a roof on a building and then it continued east out of town.”

A month ago, Dobson Pipe Organ Builders in Lake City was destroyed by fire and this is the second tornado in six years to hit the community.  “We feel like we’re a little snake bitten in town right now with the Dobson fire and six years ago,” he says. “Luckily this didn’t do any more damage. We had our public works crews out right away. We had a couple of volunteers running some skid loaders and a couple of other things. We have the trees pushed off the roads.”

The storm system also produced some downpours and flash flooding in the state. More than five-and-a-half inches of rain was reported near Maxwell.

Today: Mostly cloudy w/scattered showers & thunderstorms. High around 78. Northeast wind @ around 10 mph.
Tonight: Mo. Cldy w/scattered showers ending. Low 62. NE @ 5-10.
Tomorrow: Patchy fog possible in the morning; P/Cldy. High near 83. N @ 10.
Saturday: P/Cldy. High around 84.
Sunday: P/Cldy. High 85.

Wednesday’s High in Atlantic was 86. Our Low this morning, 67. Last year on this date, the High in Atlantic was 79 and the Low was 54. The All-Time Record High was 110 in 1936. The Record Low was 42 in 1930.

(Radio Iowa) – Forecasters are warning Iowans about the potential one-two punch of severe summer storms today (Wednesday). Meteorologist Craig Cogil, at the National Weather Service, says wide sections of the state have already seen heavy rain and large hail move through this morning. “As we head into this afternoon, we’re going to see some redevelopment across northern Iowa and a lot of these storms could be severe,” Cogil says. “Right now, the main concern is from damaging straight line winds and large hail. There may be an isolated tornado or two but again, straight line winds are the main concern.” Despite the long-running drought, street flooding could become a threat with today’s downpours.

“The main flooding concerns are more in urban areas, not so much out in the countryside,” Cogil says. “Certainly, higher rainfall rates in urban areas can cause localized street flooding or maybe flash flooding but generally, out in the countryside, things have been dry enough so far this year that I don’t think it would cause any widespread issues.” This past Friday, parts of western and central Iowa were battered by hail as large as baseballs. Cogil says the forecast should begin to calm down by early tomorrow.

“It looks like the front is going to settle down into southern Iowa on Thursday,” Cogil says. “Still some thunderstorms across the southeast half of the state on Thursday, but it doesn’t look like any severe weather with that.” High temperatures across Iowa today should be anywhere from the low 70s to around 90 degrees.