Weekly Iowa Preliminary Weather Report, May 29, 2016

Quadruple Rainbow

It was a warm and wet week across Iowa. Showers and thunderstorms were a daily occurrence across Iowa with the most widespread rain falling on Wednesday and Friday nights. Rain totals were highly variable but once again were generally greatest in western portions of the state with weekly amounts ranging from 0.40 inches at Maquoketa to 6.06 inches at Atlantic. The statewide average precipitation was 1.78 inches while normal for the week is 1.05 inches.

Severe thunderstorms occurred somewhere in Iowa on each day of the reporting week except Friday. The most widespread severe weather, mostly coming as high winds, occurred late Wednesday into Thursday morning with reports received from 19 counties over central and northern Iowa. Temperatures were well above seasonal normals every day of the week with daytime highs mostly in the eighties.

Temperature extremes for the week varied from a Tuesday (24th) afternoon high of 88 degrees at Davenport to a Sunday (29th) morning low of 50 degrees at Mount Ayr. Temperatures for the week as a whole averaged 6.5 degrees above normal with eastern Iowa generally a little warmer than the west. Soil temperatures climbed substantially in response to the persistent warm weather and were mostly averaging in the upper sixties over the north and lower seventies across the south.

Source:  Harry Hillaker, State Climatologist, Iowa Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship