It’s a windy day all across Iowa. Forecaster Rich Kinney of the National Weather Service says a look at the weather map shows why. He says there’s a relatively short distance between low pressure up in the Great lakes Region, and high pressure over the Rockies and western plains. When you have that tight pressure gradient with the winds flowing from high to low pressure, it’ll cause this kind of high windspeed. But the winds aloft, higher up above the ground, are even stronger.
He says as the day goes on those upper-level winds will mix with the atmosphere closer to the surface — and the result is high-wind warnings and wind advisories out for the whole state. He expects northern parts of the state from Waterloo through Mason City to see winds gusting to fifty miles an hour, and even higher winds in the south and south-central region, from Denison through Boone and south to the Missouri border. They’re expecting gusts around 60 miles-an-hour this afternoon, a threat to high-profile vehicles on the road and even a chance they could cause structural damage to small buildings. Construction areas are a concern, he points out, and drivers of tall vehicles should definitely slow down.