With Jim Field.
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THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS EXTENDED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 257 TO INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING AREAS IN IOWA:
HARRISON POTTAWATTAMIE SHELBY MONONA. The Main threat is damaging winds.
(Radio Iowa) – The new U-S Drought Monitor map shows 90 percent of Iowa is experiencing some type of dryness or drought. The Iowa D-N-R’s Tim Hall says only one section of the state has not water worries. “Southeastern Iowa way down in the corner — they’re not showing any dryness or drought — but virtually the rest of the state is,” Hall says. The area of concern in northwest Iowa has grown a little bit. So, certainly the conditions are not trending in the direction we’d like to see them.
The map shows 32 percent of the state rated as abnormally dry, 47 percent rated as in moderate drought and 10 percent rated as severe drought. Hall says streamflow conditions across approximately half of the state are now classified as “below normal.” He says the dry conditions in the north are now impacting things downstream. “As that lack of runoff works its way down through the system, we are seeing that reflected in the watersheds that run through central Iowa,” according to Hall. “So even though we may not be a dry here as in some parts of the state. The parts that feed those river systems have been exceptionally dry, so we are starting to see very low stream levels in parts of the state.”
Hall says the dry weather is worse this year because there wasn’t much moisture in the reserve. “Last year we entered 2000, we entered the growing season with a significant supply of groundwater and soil moisture leftover from 2018 and ’19, which were really wet years. He says. “This year — 2021 — we came into the year with almost no excess soil moisture and groundwater. So, it’s as if we started with an empty tank.” Hall says the weather data for June, July and August show there is a chance to run things around. “Over that three-month period statewide we average right at about an inch per week of rainfall. And that’s a pretty hefty chunk of moisture,” Hall says. “If we were able to get normal rainfall for the next three months — I think we would be in pretty good shape. The challenge is, every week that goes by without rain puts us another inch behind.”
He says you always have to wait and see with the weather. “We’re not panicking yet. But we’d really like to see some rain here in the month of June to start to replenish some of the soil moisture and start to get us back on track,” Hall says. Some cities are asking residents to be smart about their water use as the dry conditions continue. Hall says those measures may be ramped up more if the lack of rainfall continues.
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 70-year-old James Pontow, of Randolph, was arrested Thursday. He was taken into custody on an active Montgomery County warrant for a Class-D Felony charge of Forgery. Pontow was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $5,000 cash bond. The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the arrest.
Today: Partly Cloudy to Cloudy, w/scattered showers & thunderstorms. High 88. S @ 10-15 mph.
Tonight: Rain ending, becoming Partly cloudy. Low 64. NW @ 5-10.
Tomorrow: P/Cldy. High 87. N @ 5-10.
Sunday: P/Cldy. High 89.
Monday: P/Cldy. High near 90.
Thursday’s High in Atlantic was 96. Our Low was 68. Last year on this date the High in Atlantic was 86 and the Low was 52. The Record High on this date was 99 in 1892. The Record Low was 36 in 1903.
A three-vehicle crash in northwest Iowa’s Cherokee County, Thursday morning, resulted in a death and two injuries. The Iowa State Patrol reports a Cherokee County Secondary Roads Department grader was traveling westbound on county road C-63 at around 10:18-a.m., dressing the road shoulder gravel, when a 2018 GMC SUVn driven by 76-year-old Denise Betts, of Alta, rear-ended the grader.
A 2013 Kawasaki motorcycle operated by 74-year-old Everett Paeper, of Aurelia, rear-ended the SUV. A passenger in the SUV, 97-year-old Naomi Benna, of Storm Lake, died from her injuries, at the Cherokee Regional Medical Center. Betts and Paeper were injured in the crash, and transported to the same hospital. The Patrol says Paeper was wearing a helmet. Benna and Betts were wearing their seat belts.
The driver of the grader, 46-year-old Kelly Ebel, of Cherokee, was not injured. The accident remains under investigation.
(Radio Iowa) – A Republican state senator from Sioux City who’s running for the U-S Senate says if there’s a cyberattack against the nation’s energy supply, the U-S Department of Justice and F-B-I should take over immediately. Jim Carlin says letting a private company negotiate and pay a ransom puts the company’s profits ahead of national security. Carlin’s comments come after the C-E-O of an east coast pipeline revealed the company paid hackers five MILLION dollars after a ransomware attack shut the pipeline down.
Carlin campaigned in Carroll, Crawford, Shelby, Cass and Audubon Counties earlier this week.
(Radio Iowa) – Republican Congressman Randy Feenstra says a tax change President Biden has proposed is effectively the death tax with a new coat of paint. The proposal would treat the transfer of inherited property like a sale, so capital gains taxes would be collected. “This dramatically affects our farming community,” he says. Feenstra, who represents Iowa’s fourth congressional district, says Biden’s proposed million dollar exemption for individuals and two million dollar exemption for couples who inherit property isn’t enough.
“When you start selling land or you start selling a small business, that’s not very much,” Feenstra says, “especially when you’re into agriculture and all the equipment and all this other stuff that you’re trying to pass on to the next generation.” Feenstra says with inflation rising, Biden’s proposed budget – and the proposed taxes to finance it – should be scaled back.
“Each year we take in about $3.25 trillion of revenue,” Feenstra says, “so when you create a budget of $6 trillion, that should raise everybody’s eyebrows.” Feenstra says if Biden’s budget is adopted, it will devalue the dollar and make consumer goods more expensive.