KDSN RADIO News
Severe weather possible in Iowa today as prolonged heat wave arrives
The calendar says summer won’t arrive for another eight days, but the forecast says summer will be here in a few hours. High temperatures across much of Iowa are expected to climb into the low 90s today for the first time this year — and may continue well into next week.
Meteorologist Brooke Hagenhoff, at the National Weather Service, says there’s also the risk for two rounds of severe weather — this afternoon and tonight.
“Both of them have chances for damaging winds and large hail as the primary threats,” Hagenhoff says. “There may be a low chance for tornadoes, however that’s not going to be our main concern for today.”
On a scale of one to five, with five being the highest risk, Hagenhoff says most of Iowa today is under a one and two.
“Not every storm is going to be severe,” she says. “Some of them may not be super-strong but a few are possible that could be stronger, producing some larger hail, maybe some stronger wind gusts as well, so not a widespread severe threat, but a few hit-or-miss storms could be pretty strong in northern Iowa.”
The heat and humidity are rolling in today, pushing high temperatures into the 90s, which Hagenhoff says creates another whole set of risks.
“Along with those high daytime temperatures, another thing to keep in mind is that the overnight lows are actually pretty warm,” she says. “We’re looking at lows in the 70s overnight, so there’s not a lot of relief overnight, and that can start to exacerbate those heat conditions, especially for those that may not have access to air conditioning.”
Keep up with the changing forecast at weather.gov/dmx.
