Author: Meteorologist Maurer

(IowaStormCenter.com) — A pacific storm system will bring severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall starting later today, maximizing tonight through Sunday, and ending Monday. Strong upper divergence with instability will promote a low-end severe weather threat starting around 4-5 PM from southwest through central and into northeast Iowa. This activity will continue south and east through the afternoon and evening with a hail and damaging wind threat. Then additional convective development is anticipated tonight through Sunday where the threat will transition to primarily heavy rainfall across southern Iowa. The main corridor of rain is expected across the central to southeast half…

(IowaStormCenter.com) — A pacific storm system will bring plentiful moisture to portions of the forecast area this weekend. A strong upper-level system will get underway Saturday night with an uptick in showers and thunderstorms across western Iowa. This activity will continue a slow trend east stretching through Sunday and into Monday. Then all activity will taper off later Monday morning as the system works off to the northeast. The official rainfall numbers will be available in the final forecast, but the precipitation risk model is available now. The hardest hit areas extend across the red shaded zone where ponding and…

(IowaStormCenter.com) — Mild temperatures continue with increasing storm chances later this week. https://youtu.be/eoGfsxM87NY A frontal system will move in from the west with shower and thunderstorm chances increasing Wednesday morning over western Iowa. Then a second round hits Thursday night into Friday followed by additional rounds of storms Friday night through Sunday. Rainfall amounts over the next 7 days is certainly the highest over western Iowa where the potential is quite elevated for 0.50-1.50″ of rain during this period. – Meteorologist Maurer –

(IowaStormCenter.com) — Iowa Storm Center is innovating new services with the launch of a new website. The new Iowa Storm Center.com website is live with new features that are user friendly to the end user, including a dark design for those that like dark mode. You can do this by simply clicking on the moon icon in the upper right corner of the menu bar on our website. Then to revert to the main website, you will click the sun icon in the same location. Additionally, we are continuing to assess new algorithms of our custom models, this includes the…

(IowaStormCenter.com) — Very warm temperatures and mainly dry conditions this week. https://youtu.be/X8IyydDeIyw A ridge of high pressure will set up over the area with high temperatures surging into the 80s/lower 90s this week. The ridge will break down and slide east as our next frontal system works into the area Friday/Saturday. Thunderstorms will break out across the Dakotas southward into Nebraska Friday afternoon/evening. This activity will drag east with time for potential rain chances into western Iowa Saturday morning. Stay tuned to Iowa Storm Center.com Meteorologist Maurer

(IowaStormCenter.com) — The official September 2024 forecast is in at Iowa Storm Center. A series of cold fronts will slide through the area starting tonight through September 10th which will keep temperatures below normal for the remainder of the period. Then temperatures will rebound to above normal after the 10th and through the middle of the month. The pattern will remain less active with below average precipitation expected through the end of the month. Meanwhile, tropical threats will continue along the gulf coast and southeast. The forecast for October is already being calculated in addition to the winter outlook which…

(IowaStormCenter.com) — Severe weather moved through the forecast area on Thursday that brought scattered reports. A cold front swept through yesterday that brought a line of showers and thunderstorms to all of Iowa. The severe weather threat was focused over northern Iowa with scattered reports of damaging winds, hail, and a weak waterspout tornado on Big Spirit Lake yesterday afternoon. As expected, the overall sever weather threat was limited due to instability quickly decreasing into the evening. Additionally, flooding was reported on the north side of Sioux City and on I-35 north of Ames last evening with widespread 1-2”+ rainfall…

(IowaStormCenter.com) — A cluster of thunderstorms will hit the entire forecast area later today through tonight. A column of moisture pooled ahead of the front combined with strong upper divergence/instability will cause rapid severe thunderstorm development across the watch area starting 2-5 PM in northwest Iowa and moving eastward through the evening. Given that instability values will crash as the afternoon progresses, have elected to focus the higher risk into far northern Iowa with overall severe threat limited. The storms today will be capable of hail, damaging winds, and the chance of an isolated tornado. The cities included in the…

(IowaStormCenter.com) — Isolated/scattered severe thunderstorms will be possible across central to southeast Iowa late this afternoon. The same frontal system that brought severe weather to the northern plains on Monday will continue to move southeastward today. This will bring a renewed risk of severe weather from central to southeast Iowa. Latest forecast guidance suggests severe thunderstorm development along the frontal zone 5-9 PM. This activity will start near the western edge of the scattered zone and move eastward through late evening with a hail and wind threat. – Meteorologist Maurer –

(IowaStormCenter.com) — A heat wave is set to hit the area this weekend with heat alert criteria. A strong upper-level ridge will move into the area starting Saturday, maximizing Sunday/Monday, and departing by Tuesday. Heat index values will reach advisory criteria for those in the magenta shaded zone across west to central Iowa on Sunday, then central/east Iowa on Monday. – Meteorologist Maurer