Iowa Weather Summary, June 21, 2015

The past reporting week brought temperatures that were mostly slightly below normal until the weekend when heat and humidity returned.

Thursday (18th) was the most pleasant day with high temperatures in the seventies and relatively low humidity. Very warm and humid weather prevailed over southern Iowa on Saturday (20th) with the temperature reaching 97 degrees at Lamoni. Overnight lows dipped as low as 50 degrees at Mapleton on Tuesday (16th) morning and at Sheldon and Spencer on Friday (19th) morning. Temperatures for the week as a whole averaged 0.6 degrees below normal although much of southwest and south central Iowa averaged a little warmer than normal.

The week’s heaviest rain fell at the beginning of the period from Sunday (14th) afternoon into Monday (15th) afternoon with thunderstorms bringing rain statewide with greatest amounts falling across southern Iowa. Light rain fell across the eastern one-third of Iowa on Wednesday (17th). Thunderstorms brought locally heavy rain across parts of central and eastern Iowa on Saturday (20th). Large hail and high winds were reported from 16 east, central and southeast counties with the Saturday storms. Additional thunderstorms developed late Sunday and Sunday night (21st) but occurred too late to be reflected in this week’s crop conditions. Weekly rain totals varied from only 0.04 inches at Battle Creek (Ida County) to 4.45 inches at Bellevue. The statewide average precipitation was 1.40 inches while normal for the week is 1.17 inches.

Source: Harry Hillaker, State Climatologist, Iowa Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship