Summer doesn’t officially arrive until June 21st but it sure -felt- like the season showed up early during the holiday weekend. Sweltering, unseasonable heat and stiffling humidity settled over the state and Miles Schumacher, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service, says a few new records were set on Sunday. Schumacher says Mason City and Ottumwa each hit 93 for new records with Waterloo tying its record of 93. The Quad Cities hit 95 on Sunday, also for a new record. A number of cities also had new records set for the highest low temperatures, as overnight lows only dipped into the 70s. Schumacher says it cooled off early this (Tuesday) morning and much of Iowa should only be in the low-to-mid 80s today. Clouds and a cold front are moving through, bringing temps much closer to normal. He says the Memorial Day weekend was very summer-like. Schumacher says the heat and humidity was much more typical of mid-July, not late May, with overnight low temperatures staying in the 70s, highs around 90, with dewpoints more like mid-summer in the 60s and 70s, “and that’s what really made it feel sticky.”
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