Past IEM Features tagged: feb17
February Warmth
02 Mar 2017 05:00 AMBased on unofficial and spatially averaged climate district data computed by the IEM, February came in as the warmest on record for high temperature for much of the eastern Mid West. Values of 1 on the map would represent the warmest February since records start in 1893. The values for Iowa are all in the top ten with the warmest ranks in southeastern Iowa. March has started out a bit on the chilly side, but warmer weather is expected back soon!
Voting:
Good: 14
Bad: 2
Tags: feb17
February Tornado Warnings
01 Mar 2017 05:37 AMA powerful storm system brought a round of thunderstorms into the state on Tuesday prompting the issuance of a Tornado Watch and subsequently two Tornado Warnings for portions of Iowa. Both events are difficult to find analogs to in the recent archives maintained by the IEM. This would have been the first Tornado Watch in the state since at least 2006 and first Tornado Warning since at least 1986. The featured chart presents the number of tornado warnings issued by month and year for Iowa. The highlighted section shows no events for the months of January and February until the two yesterday!
Voting:
Good: 11
Bad: 0
Tags: feb17
4 Straight Days of Records
23 Feb 2017 05:34 AMOur stretch of amazingly warm weather for February is drawing to a close today. For Ottumwa, the daily high temperature for six out of the last seven days has either been set or tied. This included a streak of four consecutive days between the 16th and 19th. This feat is extremely rare and gets more difficult to achieve with each passing year. Having such a streak has not happened for the site since 1939. The featured chart displays the number of new daily high temperature records set each year. The epic warm year of 2012 sticks out and the current year accumulation as well. The black line represents a simple statistic for approximately how many daily records one would expect in a year.
Voting:
Good: 14
Bad: 1
Tags: feb17
3 Sigma
21 Feb 2017 05:34 AMThe very warm stretch of weather in February continued on Monday even with the presence of thick cloud cover and rain. The featured chart displays daily low temperature departures from average expressed in units of standard deviations (sigma). The low temperature on Monday was about three sigma from average! We still have a few days of very warm weather to go before reality arrives on Friday.
Voting:
Good: 10
Bad: 0
Tags: feb17
Setting February Records
20 Feb 2017 05:37 AMOur current stretch of warm weather has been nothing sort of spectacular considering that the calendar says we are only in mid February. The featured chart displays maximum hourly temperatures for Des Moines during February. New records were set on Friday and again on Sunday. More warm weather is in store this week before cooler weather arrives on Friday.
Voting:
Good: 9
Bad: 1
Abstain: 1
Tags: feb17
Beating February 1954
14 Feb 2017 05:34 AMFor Ames and by average temperature, February 1954 is the warmest February on record. The forecast for the rest of February 2017 looks rather warm and one may wonder if we have a chance to set the warmest February on record. The featured chart displays the combination of this year's month to date average temperature along with scenarios based on each of the previous months. None of these scenarios beat 1954, but that doesn't imply that it is impossible. Along with warm temperatures, there appears to be plenty of sunshine, which will be welcome after the gloomy January.
Voting:
Good: 9
Bad: 0
Tags: feb17
Very Warm Saturday
13 Feb 2017 05:33 AMVery impressive warmth was observed over the middle of the country on Saturday. The featured map presents an analysis of calendar day high temperatures for February 11th. One need not travel far south of Iowa to find temperatures above 80 degrees and a bit further south to find 90s. Needless to say, these temperatures are atypical of February.
Voting:
Good: 7
Bad: 2
Tags: feb17