The featured plot shows the height (contours) of the 500 hPa pressure surface and winds at that level. This type of flow is a very energetic pattern for Iowa and storm systems tend to track continuously over this path. As a result, it has been a stormy week and the storms look to continue on into the weekend. This pattern finally moves east by early next week and it should quiet down here for a while.

Voting:
Good = 15
Bad = 14