COOL, THE NEW RULE...

It's been in the making now for nearly a week, and finally, going forward a cooler drier weather pattern will dominate the central Midwest. The infra-red satellite confirms the fact the sub-tropical jet with all its moisture, has been shunted southward running from California through Texas into the Gulf Coast states.

That's forced the active thunderstorms that have been roaming much of the Midwest to shift to the south and decrease in coverage and intensity. What scattered precipitation left over in the local region is light and showery in nature.

In the 10-day animation below, you can watch as even drier Canadian air is continuously reinforsed across the northern half of the nation at times reaching levels where water vapor is under 1/4 inch.

While a few northern stream disturbances will pass from time to time, the lack of forcing and minimal moisture will yield precipitation amounts of only 1/4 to 1/2 inch the next 10 days according to the GFS.

That's a far cry from the amounts measured the past 30 days. Much of my local area has put up rain totals of 6 to 9 inches since the start of April, well above normal!

With wet soil conditions, periods of clouds, and prevailing winds out of the N/NE, tempeatures are expected to be well below normal the next 10 days. The EURO shows this for daily temperature departures through the 10th of May.

Later this week some temperatures in the north could reach freezing allowing for scattered areas of frost in the purple shading that clips my northern counties. Friday and Saturday mornings show the best chance for any 32 degree readings.

You can see the extent of the cool air in the pattern by looking at the EURO meteogram out 2 weeks. It has a number of days in the 50s and not a single day of 70 or above through May 13th. That may be a bit pessimistic, but for sure temperatures are going to be noticeabley cooler than we've seen in recent weeks.

In parting from the University of Iowa Hospital, I just wanted to mention that there will be some days when I'm forced to shorten the length of my blogs, due to tests and procedures. That said, rest assured the important weather elements will be covered until such time as my health returns to normal. Thanks for your patience and roll weather...TS P.S. Hi to the "Peacock" who was released into the wild yesterday!