Skyscan Forecast Saturday, March 13, 2020 Dan Hicks
Today: Areas of fog early. Increasing clouds. Light rain developing toward evening. E @ 10-15. High 54.
Tonight: Cloudy. Rain. E @ 10-15. Low 40.
Sunday: Cloudy. Rain. SE @ 15-25. High 47.
Sunday Night: Cloudy. Rain possibly mixed with snow. E @ 15-25. Low 33.
Monday: Mostly cloudy. Light rain. High 42.
Tuesday: Mostly cloudy. High 48.
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Today: Areas of fog this morning; Partly cloudy to cloudy. High 52. NE @ 10.
Tonight: P/Cldy to Cldy. Low 35. E @ 5.
Tomorrow: Mo. Cldy w/light rain late. High 52. E @ 10-15.
Sunday: Cloudy w/rain. High 47.
Monday: Mostly cloudy w/light rain. High around 42.
Thursday’s High in Atlantic was 57. Our Low this morning, 23. Last Year on this date, the High in Atlantic was 62 and the Low was 21. The Record High was 74 in 1938, and the Record Low was -21, in 1998.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — This year is shaping up to be drier than normal throughout the Missouri River basin, and the risk of flooding is generally below normal throughout the region because conditions remain dry and snowpack levels are below average. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Thursday officials expect only about 84% of the normal amount of water will flow down the Missouri River this year. The Corps said it has increased the amount of water flowing out of Gavins Point Dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border slightly, but the river remains at a low level heading into spring.
(Radio Iowa) – The state’s weather watchers are now releasing the data for the just-ended month and they’re confirming something we already know too well — February was brutally cold. State climatologist Justin Glisan says many Iowa communities set new record lows. “Looking across the state, average temperatures for the month were anywhere from ten to 15 degrees below normal,” Glisan says. “In fact, the first half of February was the coldest start to a February since 1936 and then closely followed by 1899.”
While many Iowans saw low temps in the 20s-below zero, Mapleton in Monona County hit 35-below on February 16th, a record. Overall, it was a bone-chilling month. “If we look at the statewide average temperature, we were right about 12-degrees Fahrenheit, which is 12-degrees below average,” Glisan says. “This will be a top 10 coldest Februarys on record.”
Snowfall for the month was about 10-inches on average statewide, which is three inches above normal, though some communities in west-central Iowa had 10-to-14 inches more snow than average. Still, he says, the unforgiving cold was the real story. “We expect cold snaps during February, and January for that matter, but not the longevity in which these cold temperatures persisted across the state,” Glisan says. “We had negative signs in front of both the daytime highs and overnight lows anywhere from nine to 14 days. That’s a really substantial chunk of time to be that cold.” In a welcome about-face, we’re now seeing temperatures above normal for March. Glisan says it appears we’ll rebound from the exceptionally cold February into a March that promises to bring warmer and wetter-than-usual weather.
Here’s February’s weather data for Atlantic:
Weather during the month of February 2021, here in Atlantic, was much colder, and slightly drier than normal, despite all the snow. Data compiled at the KJAN studios (The OFFICIAL National Weather Service reporting/record keeping site for Atlantic), show the Average High for the month was 22 (21.9), which was nearly 14-degrees below normal. Our warmest day was Feb. 24th, when the thermometer reached 51. The Average Low was 3 degrees (2.8), which was slightly more than 12-degrees below normal. Our coldest mornings were on 16th & 17th, when we dipped to -30.
Rain and melted snowfall for the month amounted to just .78 inches, which was .18 less than normal. Snowfall amounted to a 12.9 inches, which was 2.3″ less than normal. During the month of March, in Atlantic, the Average High is 48-degrees, the Average Low is 26, and rain/melted snow typically amounts to 2.38-inches.
Weather during the month of February 2021, here in Atlantic, was much colder, and slightly drier than normal, despite all the snow. Data compiled at the KJAN studios (The OFFICIAL National Weather Service reporting/record keeping site for Atlantic), show the Average High for the month was 22 (21.9), which was nearly 14-degrees below normal. Our warmest day was Feb. 24th, when the thermometer reached 51. The Average Low was 3 degrees (2.8), which was slightly more than 12-degrees below normal. Our coldest mornings were on 16th & 17th, when we dipped to -30.
Rain and melted snowfall for the month amounted to just .78 inches, which was .18 less than normal. Snowfall amounted to a 12.9 inches, which was 2.3″ less than normal. During the month of March, in Atlantic, the Average High is 48-degrees, the Average Low is 26, and rain/melted snow typically amounts to 2.38-inches.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The risk of flooding generally remains low across most of Nebraska and Iowa because the snow across both states is expected to melt gradually in the coming days. National Weather Service meteorologist Allan Curtis said this week’s forecast for temperatures somewhat above freezing during the days and below freezing at night with no significant new precipitation should allow the snow to melt gradually without causing too many problems.
But the amount of ice on some rivers remains a concern because chunks of ice can create flooding as the it melts by creating ice jams that block the channel of the river. So officials will be watching how the ice melts closely.
(Radio Iowa) – Up to nine inches of snow fell on parts of western Iowa on Sunday, but there will be plenty of melting today (Monday) as temperatures climb into the upper 30s and lower 40s. It’s been a month of bitter cold with Sioux City breaking records dating from the 1930s, with two days at 28-degrees below zero. Meteorologist Brooke Hagenhoff, at the National Weather Service, says more extreme cold is unlikely.
Last week’s negative temperatures came from what’s called a trough, a dip in the jet stream that allowed arctic air from Canada to move into the central United States and as far south as Texas.
The forecast calls for high temperatures all week to remain above freezing, though tomorrow (Tuesday) may be the warmest day of the week. The Weather Service warns any snow that melts on roads today will likely refreeze quickly tonight once the sun goes down, producing icy spots and potentially hazardous travel.
Here are some of the area snowfall reports as compiled by the National Weather Service:
(Radio Iowa) There was nothing sweet about the weather on Valentine’s Day as the brutal cold continued its grip on the state. State Climatologist Justin Glisan says many areas saw records. “Over 50 stations broke their daily minimum high temperature on Valentine’s day. So that is the coldest daytime high they had seen for the 14th. Anywhere ranging from zero degrees in Oskaloosa to negative 16 degrees in Rockwell City,” Glisan says.
Halfway through the month, we are averaging double digits below the normal February average temperature of 24 degrees. “We’re currently sitting at six degrees,” according to Glisan, “so 18 degrees below the monthly average. The caveat being there is that we will rebound ass we add more days to the month, and as we do warm-up.” Glisan says a disturbance in the polar vortex is allowing the cold air to flow into Iowa and many other states. Record snowfall in many areas is also contributing to the low temperatures.
“Snowpack acts to reflect the light up, that solar radiation up, that is coming in from the sun — and that does tamp down these daytime high temperatures. When you don’t get those temperatures up during the day, you are only on the downhill slope at night when the sun goes down. So yes it does impact the temperature that we do see,” Glisan says. He says you can see the impact in trees.
He says if you look at large trees you will see a tree ring from where the tree is absorbing solar radiation short wave in and emitting long-range radiation, or heat out. “And you will start to see those rings expand as you get into, hopefully sunny days and warmer days, ” he says. Glisan sees the impact in other ways as well. “Some of the remote sensing tools, the satellites that we are using looking at clouds — we are actually picking up the snowpack at the surface since it is so cold,” he explains. “You can get snowpack down into negative temperatures as well.” Glisan says we saw the same phenomenon back in January of 2019.
“That was over a four to five day period where we had temperatures actually colder than what we are seeing now — but just over two or three days in the negative 20s and the negative 30s. We had wind chill values up in northern Iowa in the negative 50s to the negative 60s. That’s extremely cold air,” Glisan says. The forecast is calling for things to slowly warm up through this week and moving toward the 20s for highs by the weekend.
The Adair & Guthrie County Emergency Management Agency and National Weather Service in Des Moines will host a Virtual Storm Spotter Training Session on March 17, 2021 at 7:00 PM via GoToWebinar. This training session is open to the all county responders and the public. The virtual training session is free. Adair/Guthrie County Emergency Management Coordinator Bob Kempf says the session will acquaint attendees with basic information on the formation of severe weather storms and how they function. What to report, as well as how and where to communicate this information will be covered. After the training, you may register as a severe storm spotter with the National Weather Service. Real-time ground truth from storm spotters is essential to rounding out the other information provided from radar, satellite, and from automated weather sensors.
According to Chad Hahn, Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Des Moines, “the 2021 spotter training will once again be 100% virtual. Turnout & reception was positive during the 2020 spotter training season & we would expect the same for this year.” Each session will again run 60-75 minutes in length.
Kempf says “By being aware of the possibility of severe weather or tornados in your area, you can react to rapidly changing weather conditions and improve you, your family and your community’s safety in such an event. As a trained spotter serving your area and providing the National Weather Service with severe storm reports, meteorologists can correlate your real‑time information of storm activity with the data they are receiving by radar to better warn your downstream neighbors of the impending severe weather dangers.”
Why does National Weather Service need severe weather reports from trained weather spotters? The Doppler Radar provides great detail to National Weather Service warning meteorologists, but it is unable to tell exactly what is happening on the ground. Trained weather spotters fill in this gap of information.
Registration is required to attend and can be completed at: http://bit.ly/2Lm59nK
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
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