One of the first things you learn about life in the Midwest is that the weather is fickle and not to be trusted. It's your friend one day and your foe the next. Few years can boast the extremes w'eve seen in 2019. Using the apparent temperature as a measure, climatologist Brian Brettschneider has shown that the biggest range in North American temperatures from the coldest wind chills to the hottest heat indices were centered right here in the heartland. Here's a closer view o

Over the past 24 hours a cold front has cleared the Midwest on a relentless journey southeast. Along the convergence zone you can see showers and storms lined up from Canada to Texas Monday night. Here's where the rain was falling at 7:00pm Monday evening. When the front came through Sunday night it did drop rain. However, it was hit and miss and while some areas got a good drink, others saw little to none. In my local area it was largely a miss, especially if you were south

We're over half way through 2019 and it's been all over the board weather wise. The funny/ironic part about that is it tends to even things out. Precipitation, for example, was well above normal in May and June. We were talking about flooding along the Mississippi at record levels and the water staying above flood stage for the longest period of time on record. On July first the river fell below flood stage across southern Iowa, northern Illinois and northern Missouri on Jul

It was feast or famine once again as a line of storms developed Saturday morning in parts of Iowa and Illinois. Some of us had a little rain, some had none, some had rain for several hours. A welcomed sight for a dry Midwest! There will be another chance for rain late Sunday night as a cold front comes through. Ahead of the front it will be a warm and muggy day... Then the cold front will arrive and lead to scattered showers and storms overnight and into Monday morning - anot

Before I get into the meat of this blog just wanted to say that Saturday night I will be at The Grove Bar and Grill in Scotch Grove, Iowa (just outside Monticello). Carolyn and I will be there to enjoy some good food, a cool beverage, and take in some karaoke. I'll also get to catch up with my friends (and the owners) Brandon and Madalyn Schrader. If you get a chance, stop in and say hello. We'll talk some weather and have a few laughs. Make no mistake about it, the dog days