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Good riddance to June

01 Jul 2014 05:41 AM
The calendar has mercifully turned to July today and the epic rainfalls that occurred in June are hopefully in the past. The last day of June saw yet another significant storm complex dump large amounts of rainfall over the state. The featured map is a preliminary attempt to analyze how much rain fell over the state for the month. The highest totals were over northwestern Iowa with values over twelve inches. Of course, this map is smoothed and isolated areas likely picked up more than the totals displayed. The good news is that drier weather is in the forecast for this week and much cooler conditions as well.

Voting:
Good: 20
Bad: 5
Abstain: 5

Tags:   jun14  

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Des Moines Left Out

25 Jun 2014 05:37 AM
The significant rainfalls this June have mostly missed central Iowa leaving quite the disparity between the total precipitation for Des Moines versus other locations in the state. The featured chart compares the average precipitation for four cities in Iowa vs the Des Moines Airport total. This June appears far away from the 1to1 line and unlike anything we have seen since 1951. There is still days left this June, so perhaps the difference will be made up with further storms expected.

Voting:
Good: 19
Bad: 7
Abstain: 9

Tags:   jun14   june  

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To the June record

24 Jun 2014 05:37 AM
The June precipitation totals have been piling up with some locations in Iowa approaching a record accumulation for the month. For this analysis, Sioux City is shown besting its previous largest June total but long term data does not exist at the site. Other locations like Dubuque, Burlington, and Esterville are just a few intense thunderstorms away from besting their respective records. And then there is Des Moines, which needs over a foot more to break the record (not likely!). The blue circles on the map are a cheesy attempt at illustration the percentage the current June total is to the previous monthly record for June.

Voting:
Good: 13
Bad: 2
Abstain: 4

Tags:   jun14  

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June Departures

23 Jun 2014 05:44 AM
More rainfall fell on Iowa over the weekend with some of it falling in areas that have received too much rainfall already this month. The featured chart shows the June precipitation departures as reported by the National Weather Service. The largest values on the map appear in the Sioux City and Sioux Falls area with departures for the month over 10 inches! In Eastern Iowa, Cedar Rapids is shown 5.4 inches above average while just to the south Iowa City is only 0.9 inches above. Des Moines is the slightly negative number in the state. More rain is in the forecast this week, but after a few mostly dry days to start.

Voting:
Good: 19
Bad: 5
Abstain: 4

Tags:   jun14  

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Southwestern Iowa Rainfall

04 Jun 2014 05:42 AM
Numerous rounds of intense thunderstorms dumped hail and heavy rainfall over southwestern Iowa Tuesday evening. The featured map presents estimated precipitation totals from the NOAA MRMS project. While totals exceeded five inches in some locations, the analysis shows amounts varying tremendously even within a single county. Page County (second county from the left on bottom row) missed out with most amounts shown under an inch. The forecast for the rest of this week has temperatures a bit on the cool side with highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s.

Voting:
Good: 25
Bad: 7
Abstain: 5

Tags:   jun14