LONG ROAD AHEAD...

There is a long road ahead across the Midwest. Many in Iowa and Illinois still reeling from the derecho of August 10th. The roads themselves are literally lined with trees. Lined with debris. Stacked several feet high.

The brunt of it in Cedar Rapids where wind speeds of 110 to 140 mph occurred that day for roughly an hour. Likely the strongest derecho in Iowa and among the strongest in the U.S. The National Weather Service tells me the duration of the winds is also unheard of... usually the strong winds only lasts 10 to 20 minutes in a derecho.

So it's going to take a while. And luckily there has been little to no rain since the derecho to allow for recovery. There were some showers and storms in Iowa Saturday and there will be more Saturday night into Sunday morning.

The lack of rain is a double edged sword as western Iowa is experiencing extreme drought conditions.

So once power is back on and everyone's roofs have tarps on them (where they're needed) it would be beneficial to bring some rain back to the state. However, it doesn't look like there will be much rain over the next few days. Here's a look at the rainfall totals through Thursday:

It is going to get hot and humid with the lack of rain and cloud cover. After some rain early Sunday temperatures will be going up:

And then it gets even hotter Monday:

If you're looking to help Iowa int the derecho recovery you can look for ways to help here.

RK