Drought conditions persist across the Midwest and Great Plains regions which translates to a lower runoff forecast for the Missouri River basin. Kevin Stom, with the water control bureau of the U-S Army Corps of Engineers, says the river’s runoff remains low, but there’s been a small pick-up in recent weeks. “We are forecasting 20-million acre feet of runoff above Sioux City, which is 81-percent of normal,” Stom says. “This is a slight increase of 0.1-million acre feet from the February forecast.”
Jody Farhat, chief of the water bureau in Omaha, says the Corps will continue with water conservation measures this spring. Farhat says, “We’re beginning this runoff season with the reservoirs drawn down significantly due to the drought and as a result, we’re implementing measures to conserve water in the reservoir system, including reduced service to navigation this year.” If the drought continues as feared, Farhat said they may have to look at even more water-savings steps in future months.
Farhat says, “Other potential conservation measures that may be implemented this summer include not supporting navigation targets in reaches without commercial navigation, use of the Kansas basin reservoirs for navigation support and cycling Gavins Point releases during the endangered species nesting season.”
Missouri River levels were very low all of last year due to the drought, which followed a full year of record flooding on the waterway in 2011.
(Radio Iowa)
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347 AM CDT FRI MAR 15 2013
TODAY…PARTLY SUNNY. PATCHY FOG THROUGH MID MORNING. HIGH IN THE UPPER 50S. SOUTHWEST WIND 5 TO 10 MPH SHIFTING TO THE NORTHWEST IN THE AFTERNOON.
TONIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW AROUND 30. NORTH WIND 5 TO 10 MPH.
SATURDAY...PARTLY SUNNY. COLDER. HIGH IN THE LOWER 40S. NORTH WIND 10 TO 15 MPH.
SATURDAY NIGHT...PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE LOWER 20S. NORTHEAST WIND AROUND 10 MPH.
SUNDAY...PARTLY SUNNY. A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF LIGHT RAIN IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGH IN THE LOWER 40S. EAST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH.
SUNDAY NIGHT…CLOUDY. A CHANCE OF RAIN POSSIBLY MIXED WITH SNOW THROUGH MIDNIGHT…THEN SNOW POSSIBLY MIXED WITH RAIN AFTER MIDNIGHT. LOW AROUND 30. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 70 PERCENT.
MONDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 30 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW POSSIBLY MIXED WITH RAIN. BREEZY. HIGH IN THE UPPER 30S.
MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW 15 TO 20. HIGH AROUND 40.
The way severe weather warnings are issued in Iowa will be changing a bit this spring. Jeff Johnson, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in metro Des Moines, says watches and warnings will be accompanied by what he calls a tag, or a more descriptive statement. “The tornado tag will have an option between ‘radar indicated’ and actually a ‘tornado observed’ tag,” Johnson says. “With the damage threat tags, we’ll be able to say in terms of a large catastrophic tornado moving toward a metropolitan area, we’ll put that into the warning itself, that way decision makers can make quicker responses.”
The changes come, in part, following the fact 2011 was a historic year in terms of tornado deaths nationwide. Recent studies found some people don’t always understand what severe weather warnings mean, so the tags aim to make it more clear what’s coming down the road. “Nothing’s changing with our watches and warnings, all the coding will be the same, what a Tornado Warning means will be the same, and a watch,” Johnson says. “It will add a little more information on the bottom of the warning so if you just picked it up and saw the warning, you can quickly ascertain what the overall threat of that warning is.”
The changes in the warnings may seem minor, but Johnson says it’s hoped the slight differences may provide vital information that could ultimately save lives. “You might hear a sense of urgency in the announcer’s voice if it’s a ‘catastrophic’ tag, because it’s going to give that person knowledge that this is a significant, major tornado event and to go all out on the dissemination,” Johnson says. “Each tag has a corresponding call to action statement which will be placed in the warning for weather radio listeners.”
The new series of “impact-based” warnings were tested last year in Missouri and Kansas. Now, starting April 1st, they’ll be rolled out in Iowa and ten other states across the Midwest, encompassing 38 National Weather Service offices. Learn more at www.weather.gov.
(Radio Iowa)
The Freese-Notis forecast for the KJAN listening area and weather data for Atlantic….
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341 AM CDT THU MAR 14 2013
TODAY…PARTLY SUNNY. WARMER. HIGH IN THE MID 40S. SOUTHWEST WIND 5 TO 10 MPH SHIFTING TO THE NORTHWEST IN THE AFTERNOON.
TONIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE UPPER 20S. TEMPERATURE STEADY OR SLOWLY RISING AFTER MIDNIGHT. WEST WIND NEAR 5 MPH SHIFTING TO THE SOUTH AFTER MIDNIGHT.
FRIDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. HIGH IN THE MID 50S. SOUTH WIND 5 TO 10 MPH SHIFTING TO THE WEST IN THE AFTERNOON.
FRIDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY THROUGH MIDNIGHT THEN BECOMING MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOW AROUND 30. NORTH WIND 5 TO 15 MPH.
SATURDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. COLDER. HIGH AROUND 40. NORTH WIND 10 TO 15 MPH.
SATURDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE MID 20S.
SUNDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF LIGHT RAIN AND SNOW IN THE MORNING…THEN A SLIGHT CHANCE OF LIGHT RAIN IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGH IN THE LOWER 40S. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 20 PERCENT.
SUNDAY NIGHT…RAIN LIKELY THROUGH MIDNIGHT…THEN RAIN AND SNOW LIKELY AFTER MIDNIGHT. LOW AROUND 30. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 60 PERCENT.
Here’s the KJAN listening area forecast and weather data for Atlantic….
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354 AM CDT WED MAR 13 2013
TODAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGH IN THE LOWER 30S. NORTHWEST WIND NEAR 10 MPH SHIFTING TO THE SOUTHWEST IN THE AFTERNOON.
TONIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. NOT AS COLD. LOW IN THE MID 20S. TEMPERATURE STEADY OR SLOWLY RISING AFTER MIDNIGHT. SOUTH WIND NEAR 10 MPH.
THURSDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. WARMER. HIGH IN THE UPPER 40S. SOUTHWEST WIND 5 TO 10 MPH SHIFTING TO THE NORTHWEST IN THE AFTERNOON.
THURSDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE UPPER 20S. TEMPERATURE STEADY OR SLOWLY RISING AFTER MIDNIGHT. NORTHWEST WIND NEAR 5 MPH SHIFTING TO THE SOUTH AFTER MIDNIGHT.
FRIDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. HIGH IN THE UPPER 50S. SOUTHWEST WIND 5 TO 10 MPH.
FRIDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE UPPER 20S.
SATURDAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. COLDER. HIGH AROUND 40.
The Freese-Notis forecast for the KJAN listening area and weather data for Atlantic…
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