A GOOD SOAKER LOOKING LIKELY
Hello everyone! We're watching what could be a good soaking rain late this week across the region with abnormally-cool temperatures to accompany the dreary pattern.
Let's start off with a look at precipitation over the last 48 hours. Very beneficial rain fell across western and southern Iowa, as well as much of Missouri. These are areas that really need the rainfall. While not drought-busting, it was a very good step in the right direction. Notably, eastern Iowa and much of Illinois was dry, but that will change late this week.
The pattern will look a lot more like autumn Friday and Saturday as a large upper low parks over the region. This will lead to cloud cover, rainfall and cool temperatures.
The rainfall threat begins in the second half Friday and will linger through much of Saturday. While the rain will likely not be heavy, it will be steady for a pretty prolonged period.
Models continue to be consistent with widespread .05" to 1.0" across eastern Iowa and into northern Illinois. The above image is a blend of multiple models. There could be areas up to 2.0" if thunderstorms develop, but that will likely be more localized and will be pretty hard to pinpoint this far ahead of time.
The rain likely clear out Sunday, but residual cloud cover will remain in place. Plotted above are temperature anomalies for Sunday. There is a rather large area of below-normal temperatures (blue) across the central US as the upper Low sits around.
The temperature forecast remains on track for the next several days. Anticipate temperatures near 80/low 80s Wednesday through Friday, with mid/upper 70s this weekend. Nothing stands out too much here long term either with near-normal temperatures.
I'll end with tonight is the last 8 p.m. sunset for the Quad Cities until May 2, 2023. Like it or hate it, we're slowly trending to the days of snow back in the forecast. I don't know about you, but Stormy and I are big fans of the 'white gold.'
Have a great night everyone!
-Meteorologist Nick Stewart
