Parts of northern Iowa may only have high temperatures in the 70s today, but southwest Iowa will be roasting, with highs well into the 90s. Mindy Albrecht, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, says the heat wave will wash over much of the state by tomorrow.
Albrecht says temps will be climbing into the mid to upper 90s with heat indices in triple-digits both Saturday and Sunday. She says the approaching front will produce excessive heat, which is already creeping into southwest Iowa.
The weather pattern Iowa’s seen the past several weeks is changing and all of the heat that had been over Arizona and the desert region of the Southwestern U.S. is now pushed into the Midwest, making it feel more like summer here. Albrecht says the hot spell will last for a few days.
She says the mid-90s will last through the weekend with a slight cool-off into the 80s next week. Overall, she expects high temps to remain around normal or slightly-warmer-than-average. It follows the coldest-ever Iowa July. Last month’s average temperature was only around 68-degrees statewide, breaking a record set in 1891.