The statewide Heat Advisory was set to expire last night but it’s been extended through 7 o’clock tonight for much of Iowa, to all but a few counties in the northeast and southwest. High temperatures today are again forecast to reach the mid to upper 90s. Meteorologist Miles Schumacher, at the National Weather Service, says a couple of records were set on Tuesday.
Des Moines tied a high temperature record with 99 degrees but set a record for the warmest overnight low temperature with 77 degrees, while Mason City also set a record for the warmest overnight low with 74. This steamy, summer system is stalled over Iowa and the forecast won’t be changing much for several days. Schumacher says the chances for precipitation are very low.
“There’s an outside chance we could see a few isolated showers in the northeast part of the state tonight but we’re talking maybe a 10% chance, nothing really to write home about,” he says. The heat index, or “misery index,” combines the temperature and humidity to give a figure for what it “feels like” outside, and that index is again expected to climb toward 105 to 110-degrees this afternoon.
By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City