For the better part of a month, I've been dealing with significant health issues due to a blood infection that has allowed vegetation to form on my aortic valve. This is known as aortic valve infective endocarditis, a life-threatening inflammation where bacteria or fungi attach to the valve, causing growths that can destroy the tissue. It requires immediate and vigorous treatment with intravenous antibiotics (and frequently ends with heart surgery to repair or replace the dam

If you can remember back to March 15th, you might recall that many a Midwesterner was doing a rain dance for showers and storms that had mysteriously vanished from the weather scene. Going back to mid-September, rain deficits had reached 11 inches near Ottumwa, with many other parts of the region down by 8-10 inches. Then the tide broke and the rains returned. The next thing you know, as much as 10 inches of rain had turned things soggy in East Central Iowa. You can see speci

High pressure is flexing its spring muscles allowing a late season surge of cool air to overspread the Midwest. By May 1st, Average temperatures are close to 70 and we'll be well below that. In fact, Wednesday the high in Dubuque reached a meager 53 degrees, and there's plenty more where that came from. If you focus on Hudson Bay in the animation below, you will see a persistent upper air low locked into that part of SC Canada. The resultant NW flow is going to make it very h

It's been in the making now for nearly a week, and finally, going forward a cooler drier weather pattern will dominate the central Midwest. The infra-red satellite confirms the fact the sub-tropical jet with all its moisture, has been shunted southward running from California through Texas into the Gulf Coast states. That's forced the active thunderstorms that have been roaming much of the Midwest to shift to the south and decrease in coverage and intensity. What scattered pr

From the University of Iowa Cardiology floor in Iowa City, here's wishing everybody a fabulous Tuesday. The dissapointing news on my part, is that I'm back in the hospital due to complications from a bacterial desease and a couple of damaged heart valves. My medical team is diligently working on a plan to get the bacteria out of my blood stream and repair the bad valves, before a clot can break free and find a home in my brain. I'll have more on a specific course of action wh