A SLAP IN THE FACE...
The past 30 days have been wet ones across my northern counties. Precipitation of 5-10" have fallen over the majority of northern Iowa, southern Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Here's another perspective showing a few areas in the 10-15" range.
In some spots the rain (and snow) was more than 300% of the 30 day average.
On the other hand, parts of southern Iowa, central Illinois, and a large portion of Missouri have witnessed only 10-25% of there normal 30 day precipitation.
Often times it's feast or famine in the weather world and that's what it looks like this weekend. A front will set up shop in northern Missouri and the heaviest rains will keep on falling where they've been falling the past month. Here's what the GFS has for rain through the weekend.
The EURO shows this for the same time period.
Taking it a step further, the pattern looks to remain active the next 2 weeks (something that's not unusual for the month of May). This is the 16 day rain forecast off the GFS. This is far from precise but the trend of wet weather in the central Midwest looks justified. The only good thing about this is that the rain is shown moving into the regions that really need it.
Aside from the wet weather, the other big headline is a change to much cooler conditions...a real slap in the face. The high-res 3k NAM is showing this for temperatures Friday at 1:00pm. In northeast Iowa its a brisk 40 degrees. At Burlington in southeast Iowa the temperature is 80. Most of my area but the far south will see highs only in the 50s Friday and Saturday. Quite a change from the low 80s we've enjoyed much of the month!
By Mother's Day the majority of the rain has pushed south and temperatures will make a bit of a recovery. Depending on the amount of sunshine which looks limited, highs should hold in the mid to upper 60s. Nothing great but a big step in the right direction. Have a great weekend despite the crummy conditions. Roll weather...TS