The featured chart presents the year to date rank and departure this year's average temperature for Ames compares with previous years. Since the end of March, we have been in first place and have not relinquished the spot yet. The forecast for the rest of this week keeps temperatures near average values and mostly dry.

Voting:
Good = 24
Bad = 5

Tags:   2012  

Warm and moist air surged into Iowa this past Saturday pushing dew point readings over 70 degrees Fahrenheit for Des Moines. The featured chart presents the period between the first and last 70 degree dew point each year. Saturday was only the 5th of May making for the earliest 70 degree reading since 1955!

Voting:
Good = 39
Bad = 5

Tags:   dewpoint   2012  

Yesterday was yet another day this year with the high temperature above average for the date, which made for the 84th day this year above average. The featured chart presents the day which was the 84th day above average for each year since 1900. For 1993, it took until the October to have this many above average days! For the past five years, this total was not reached until June! Just another way that this year has been exceptional.

Voting:
Good = 21
Bad = 4

Tags:   2012  

Cold nights typical of this time of year have taken a toll on the vegetation in the state these past three days. The featured chart is of minimum reported temperature from the airport sites since our recent cold stretch began. Temperatures have dipped well below freezing over the entire state. Normally, this weather would not be of concern as our growing season would be starting a few weeks from now. The record warm winter and March got everything growing much earlier this year and put our vegetation in a very vulnerable position.

Voting:
Good = 21
Bad = 6

Tags:   2012  

Our remarkable stretch of warm weather continues to set interesting records. The featured chart shows the daily high and low temperature departure from average for Des Moines since the first of March. The past 26 days have seen a high temperature ten or more degrees above average. This is easily the longest streak on record for the site and bests the previous longest streak of 17 days back in Jan-Feb of 1931. Much cooler overnight low temperatures are set to arrive this evening with chances of sub freezing temperatures over the northeastern half of the state.

Voting:
Good = 23
Bad = 5

Tags:   2012   highs  

The featured chart for yesterday showed this March easily being the warmest on record for Ames. Today's chart based on preliminary data shows the current year to date being the warmest on record as well for Ames. The warmth will roll on with temperatures returning to the 80s this weekend.

Voting:
Good = 19
Bad = 6

Tags:   2012  

This year has started off being one of the warmest on record. The featured chart presents two computed metrics of accumulated growing degree days and simple average temperature. While the average temperature ranks a close second for Ames, the accumulated growing degree days blow away the competition. It is little wonder that plants are getting going early this year, but the major concern is that there is plenty of time for a hard freeze.

Voting:
Good = 47
Bad = 13

Tags:   2012  

Our next week of weather looks to be nothing short of amazing with high temperatures well into the 70s! This continues the trend of having well above normal temperatures so far this year. The featured chart presents the date on which the reported daily high temperature nearly equals climatology. So having a high temperature in the lower 70s today would feel like average in early May. The colder than average days (the very few that there are) so far this year are shown as well. Some days were colder than the yearly minimum high temperature and are simply drawn to 1 Jan.

Voting:
Good = 22
Bad = 2

Tags:   2012  

The featured chart presents our winter to date rank for average temperature for Ames. We had gotten to 2nd warmest only to fall back to 6th place after our recent stretch of more winter like weather. The forecast does not look to better our ranking, but temperatures are expected comfortably above freezing each day. Only two more weeks to go until we are out of meteorological winter!

Voting:
Good = 12
Bad = 3

Tags:   2012  

The featured chart is another illustration of how warm this winter has been. The chart shows the number of days this winter season that the low temperature has been at or below a given temperature threshold. The blue line represents the minimum total for any year prior to this year. The teal line is this winter and it closely hugs or exceeds the previous minimum at some thresholds. The overall minimum temperature has only been 1 degree this year, which would be the warmest on record if it stands for the rest of winter. Our last winter is plotted in red and shows how much different it was than this year.

Voting:
Good = 14
Bad = 3

Tags:   2012  

Wednesday was yet another amazingly warm day in winter for most folks in Iowa. Des Moines hit 60 degrees for the third day in a row. The weather bureau noted that this was the first three day stretch of 60 degrees for Des Moines during the period of 15 Dec to 15 Feb on record! The featured chart presents the warmest three day streak of weather based on the minimum high temperature during that period. The first day of the streak is used to place the three day value for a month. Our most recent streak would be the warmest for January besting the previous streak in 2002 of 59.

Voting:
Good = 11
Bad = 4

Tags:   2012   highs  

Minneapolis was featured last week for tying the latest date into the winter season it has gone before hitting a zero degree or lower temperature. The featured image looks at the minimum temperature to date for Des Moines. This year is with a handful of others to not see a sub zero temperature by this date. The warmest minimum temperature for the entire winter was zero for 1930-1931, so there is a chance we could best that mark this year. There is plenty of winter to go yet.

Voting:
Good = 15
Bad = 2

Tags:   2012  

The featured chart presents the percentage of days this winter (since 1 Dec) has been warmer than previous winters. Each day this winter is compared with the same day of the year for previous winters. The bars shown in blue are years with more days colder that winter than this one. So we have another plot showing how warm this winter has been so far, but our weather pattern has changed and normal winter has returned to Iowa. Snow will fall today and there is more snow in the forecast!

Voting:
Good = 16
Bad = 4

Tags:   2012  

The featured chart presents the minimum temperature each winter for Minneapolis up until 18 January. If Minneapolis would have stayed above zero Fahrenheit on Wednesday, it would have been the latest date into the winter they have gone without a sub zero temperature. A strong cold front plowing through late last night and dropped the temperature to -1 just before midnight! "Missed it by that much!" Anyway, full blown winter has returned and today's weather certainly makes it feel like what the calendar indicates: the middle of winter!

Voting:
Good = 17
Bad = 2

Tags:   2012  

After yet another very warm day for January, the featured chart presents another metric showing how warm this winter has been so far. This time the number of hours with a wind chill reading below 0 Fahrenheit for Des Moines is presenting showing this year's total only slightly ahead of 1954 and 2002 since 1933. The situation is about to change with colder air arriving and windy conditions for the next few days. The extended forecast does look to be warmer again next week.

Voting:
Good = 28
Bad = 3

Tags:   2012  

The big story this winter continues to be the warmth and lack of snow. Even our coldest temperature reading so far this winter season is at record levels for most of the state as shown by the featured map. The featured map presents the percentile value for this winter season's minimum temperature compared against the same period for previous winters. Values of 100% would indicate that this winter has seen the warmest minimum temperature for the season so far. High temperatures today are expected to reach near daily record levels again!

Voting:
Good = 37
Bad = 2

Tags:   2012  

The meteorological winter season (1 Dec - 28 Feb) has started off being one of the warmer ones on record. Does a warm start to date of winter mean a colder end? The featured chart compares the average temperature for winter before and after 8 January. From this analyis, 2012 is the fifth warmest statewide since 1893. There is plenty of spread in the chart, so it is hard to say how bad the rest of our winter will be. The next week looks to be mostly on the warm side with a brief bout of near average temperatures.

Voting:
Good = 15
Bad = 5

Tags:   2012