2004 shaping up as one of the wettest

State Climatologist Harry Hillaker says 2004 will likely go down as one of the wettest in recent years. “This will probably be our wettest year since 1998,” Hillaker says. The only way that trend will be averted is if December is “extremely dry,” but December is usually a dry month anyway, according to Hillaker. Temperatures in 2004 will be pretty close to normal.As of the end of November, 2004 was “pretty close to the middle of the pack” when it comes to temperatures. The average temperatures this year in Iowa will probably rank as 61st warmest in the 132 years of weather records. The first measurable snow of 2004 fell around Thanksgiving, which Hillaker says is normal for Iowa.