hawkeye_wx

We are still climbing a bit, sitting at 84º. Upper 80s are not out of the question tomorrow.

The lawns here are less lush and moist than a week or two ago. It has not rained in two weeks, so we could use a nice soaker.

A bit of sleet just started falling here. NW/NC Iowa has been in the low 30s with light snow today. Thank god this is the last day of this cold crap.

After another cool day today, models show nothing but 60s, 70s, and 80s into next week. The midweek system is dying for Iowa and other northern areas. In one way that's a bummer because some decent rain would be nice, but having the system sweep through much more quickly than it appeared a few days ago will allow more warmth to quickly move back in from the plains. I've had enough of the 40s and 50s.

The Cedar Rapids airport hit 20º this morning. My yard reached about 23º. I wasn't expecting it to be quite that cold. I'm glad I covered a bunch of plants.

Yep. When I'm driving around it's very noticeable how many trees are gone. I was out by a local cemetery yesterday in a relatively elevated part of the city, where a small wooded area along the road was ravaged. The city just cut down everything near the road, dozens of trees. This is a photo of a tiny wooded area near my house. The wooded area by the cemetery is worse.

Wow, no kidding! UK is way down there. At this point, the odds of the NAM being right are about 1%.

The NAM is far nw, GFS is far se, Euro is in the middle. I'm going with the Euro.

The heavier rain remained just east and south of Cedar Rapids, but I picked up a solid 0.73".

A BRIEF TORNADO CAUSED DAMAGE TO SEVERAL MANUFACTURED HOMES IN THE SOUTHWEST PART OF CEDAR RAPIDS WEDNESDAY EVENING. ONE HOME SUSTAINED SIGNIFICANT ROOF DAMAGE, WITH ADDITIONAL SIDING DAMAGE TO NEARBY HOMES. ONE PERSON SUSTAINED MINOR INJURIES FROM GLASS AFTER THEIR BEDROOM WINDOW BLEW IN. THE TORNADO LOFTED DEBRIS INTO A NEARBY FIELD. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS WERE AROUND 85 MPH AND THE TORNADO WAS RATED EF-0.

I picked up a solid 0.69" of rain. It had been getting a bit dry.

A solid thunderstorm just moved through Cedar Rapids and produced good lighting and about 0.40" of rain in a short period. This is my first storm of the year.

Iowa just opened up to everyone. I figured I wouldn't be able to get the shot til May, but I was fortunate to check the vaccine scheduler website for the local grocery store/pharmacy chain at the right time this evening, shortly after they opened a bunch of slots. I get the Pfizer shot Wednesday evening.

I'm still waiting for the first rumble of thunder this year. It had better happen Wednesday.

It was still breezy here this morning, but now it's in the low 70s with light wind... hard to beat.

This morning was our last sub-freezing low temp, at least for a while. Today is the in-between day, back into the 50s with sun, but also windy so a bit chilly. The big warmup moves in Saturday.

Yeah, the big warmth only goes through Tuesday now. However, what comes after that is still a mystery. A few model runs have become quite cold, but others aren't too bad. Last night's Euro never makes the connection to any cold, so Iowa never falls below 60º for highs through day ten.

The GFS is forecasting a trough to move across the upper midwest mid next week, bringing much cooler air to the region. The Euro, on the other hand, continues to show endless spring to summer warmth. The Euro now has 80s, and fairly humid, around here late in the period.

Cedar Rapids officially hit 70º for the first time this afternoon. Now we get a few cool/cold days before the bigger warmup.

We just cannot get rid of the damn clouds. We've been cloudy and in the 40s for several days. Today was supposed to be full sun and 50º, but instead it's full clouds and 40º. We will finally get one mild day tomorrow, albeit very windy, before more cold moves in midweek.

Another 0.36" of rain fell here early this morning. This has been a cool, cloudy, wet week. The grass is greening up quickly.

Yesterday afternoon and evening turned into a washout over here. I picked up 0.42". We have more rain on the way tonight, with a bit of thunder mixed in. It has been a cloudy, wet period recently.

The HRRR is really fading this system for Chicagoland. It's down to just a bit of light rain for many. It actually has more rain falling over here than Chicago.

00z Euro

I picked up 0.36" of rain this morning from the light to moderate band and then another 0.39" this evening from the moderate to heavy band, so my total is 0.75". It's nice to see and hear it pour rain again. There was no lightning, so my first lightning/thunder will likely have to wait til mid April.