A BIG DAY FOR WEATHER, NOW IT'S BACK TO REALITY...
Tuesday was a big day for weather around the Midwest thanks to a strong fall storm which raced northeast across Iowa and Wisconsin. The hi-res satellite shows the low pressure center near Iowa City at mid-afternoon. A cold front arcs southward into eastern Missouri.
As is often the case this time of the year, dynamic storms such as this are two sided with winter on one end and spring like conditions on the other. Get a load of this temperature contrast in Iowa at 1:30PM. 73 degrees in the Quad Cities and 25 in Spencer.
If you consider the wind chills, I saw a range of11 in Spencer to 72 in Burlington and Keokuk at 1:15PM. In other words it felt 61 degrees colder in NW Iowa. Wow!
In the warm sector over far eastern Iowa and Illinois severe thunderstorms erupted and a rare November tornado watch was issued. A squall line developed that produced winds of 50-70 mph. I even saw a couple gusts as high as 80 west of Chicago. Some damage was noted and power lines were snapped in spots. The Storm Prediction Center as of mid evening Tuesday indicated 74 wind related reports of severe weather.
Some nice rain totals were also reported, especially NW of the low pressure track from Dubuque to Iowa City and on to Ottumwa where 1 to 1.5" amounts were common. Another area of heavier rains fell east of the Mississippi where thunderstorms filled in ahead of the cold front. These are Doppler rain estimates from the Quad Cities radar site.
Further off to the northwest snow and freezing rain caused problems from Nebraska and NW Iowa in much of Minnesota and NW Wisconsin. These are winter storm warnings and advisories posted for Tuesday night by the NWS in Minneapolis.
Here's the snow that's forecasted to fall by daybreak Wednesday.
With the departing storm Wednesday clearing skies and colder conditions will prevail areawide. Readings are expected to be seasonal through Sunday in the mid 40s to low 50s. A few light showers are possible Thursday night and again Friday night as a couple weak disturbances ripple by in the upper levels. Amounts currently look to be very much on the light side.
A stronger cold front is due Sunday night that should get next week off to a chilly start. Overall though the pattern is expected to de-amplify which means precipitation locally should be light the next 7-10 days. The EURO shows this for 7 day rain totals.
The big take-away Wednesday is cooler and calmer weather will rule the day. In the end, it will feel more like November than September. Back to reality. Roll weather...TS
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