April 2019 Observations and Discussion

[OmahaSnowFan]

IEM daily feature. Daryl's statement mentioning the benefits for those with agricultural interests is very true. But that dryness looks to be ending in the next week for parts of the Midwest, at least for a period.

 

 

Wed Apr 24, 2019

 

View larger image

Amazing to Talk Dryness

24 Apr 2019 05:33 AM

After a wet and snowy winter, it is somewhat amazing to now be discussing some dryness that has developed over Iowa. The featured map is of precipitation departures from average over the 11 March thru 22 April period. A significant portion of central and southeastern Iowa is below 75% of average with a smaller portion below 50%. Not many folks are currently complaining though as this dry weather was just what was needed to dry out the agricultural fields. There is also significant soil moisture still present and high river flows yet from the snow melt, so this dry weather has had few negative impacts.

Voting: Good - 13 Bad - 3

We're running about 30% of normal precip here in April with only .70". With this morning's showers, there's been precip 9/25 days, but for the most part it's been very light amounts.

[Stormy]

Nothing like a great salad from your garden amigo. Tomatoes are so fresh and tasty when you get them right off your property. You can really taste the difference. Delicious!

Yes home raised food is usually much better since it gets real sunshine n rain.

[Stormy]

Started the day with a pea souper of a fog.

55* headed for a Sunny 83*.

If my allergies are any measure of the spring and summer (a wet one) ahead, I better stock up on meds.

Usually our hot dry Texas summers kill off a lot of allergens, but....if Tom's right, we'll have a misery index instead of a heat index.

It was very foggy here as well this morning. Sun is shining now. Yesterday morning it rained 0.03" when none was forecast though chances might have been 10-15% then.

[Tom]

Hello from Carlsbad, CA! We have a heavy marine layer here which is typical as the locals call it “May Grey” and “June Gloom”. Skies will clear up around Noon and peak near 70F along the coast and be quite delightful as an early season heat wave is brewing in PHX this week. Great timing and planning to come out here for a short trip.

[Stormy]

Awesome amigo.

 

Here tbh, trees are still bare (80%) of them and I am not surprised because its been too chilly. Hopefully, they will start to bud soon. The grass has started to green up, but not to full capacity. Doesnt really feel like May is entering the picture. It feels more like April is about to start. Lows ova the next couple of nights are expected to dip into the 30s w wcf in the 20s.

Vegetation as it appears on the farm here.

[Niko]

Vegetation as it appears on the farm here.

wow

 

Btw: Are you a farmer? You must know a lot about gardens.

[westMJim]

Awesome amigo.

 

Here tbh, trees are still bare (80%) of them and I am not surprised because its been too chilly. Hopefully, they will start to bud soon. The grass has started to green up, but not to full capacity. Doesnt really feel like May is entering the picture. It feels more like April is about to start. Lows ova the next couple of nights are expected to dip into the 30s w wcf in the 20s.

It is kind of odd that the trees would not have buds on them in your side of the state, . Here in the west side of Michigan the spring flowers are out and the grass is green and growing and the trees either have baby leaves or are budding,

[Stormy]

wow

 

Btw: Are you a farmer? You must know a lot about gardens.

Yes I'm a dairy farmer currently. I want to quit at the end of the year though, if I can find a buyer for my dairy goats ! The milk gets shipped up to a plant in Belmont, Wisconsin where they make non- GMO & regular goat cheese. The milk I sell is non-GMO. (All of the grain & hay is tested for "genetically modified organisms" before I feed it) And yes, I do some gardening & do all of the yard work, which is a large area. My brother does the crop farming.

Some of the later trees around here are still bare as well.

[Stormy]

I'm not sure why the map I had posted already disappeared. Should probably have done some settings differently. Oh well.

[Andie]

It was very foggy here as well this morning. Sun is shining now. Yesterday morning it rained 0.03" when none was forecast though chances might have been 10-15% then.

Same here, absolutely sparkling day here now.  78*

This is a textbook Spring afternoon!

[Stormy]

I downloaded more data from my weather station & saw that April was a tad warmer than normal so far. It should end up near normal when all is said and done.

[Stormhunter87]

Quite the change up coming. And overall pretty quite start to the severe weather season. Temps have been amazing here though.

[Hawkeye]

It is going to be pretty cool for the next week, with plenty of clouds and showers.

[Niko]

Yes I'm a dairy farmer currently. I want to quit at the end of the year though, if I can find a buyer for my dairy goats ! The milk gets shipped up to a plant in Belmont, Wisconsin where they make non- GMO & regular goat cheese. The milk I sell is non-GMO. (All of the grain & hay is tested for "genetically modified organisms" before I feed it) And yes, I do some gardening & do all of the yard work, which is a large area. My brother does the crop farming.

Some of the later trees around here are still bare as well.

Excellent!

[Niko]

It is kind of odd that the trees would not have buds on them in your side of the state, . Here in the west side of Michigan the spring flowers are out and the grass is green and growing and the trees either have baby leaves or are budding,

It is. Some are now starting to finally bud out, but some are still bare. I will try to post a pic or 2 today to give ya an i.e.

[Niko]

Currently at 47F w cloudy skies. The rain has ended.

 

A potent system could threaten the area on the weekend w potential accumulating snows. Having snow on Easter day will be something else, that's for sure.  Wow!

[westMJim]

Currently at 47F w cloudy skies. The rain has ended.

 

A potent system could threaten the area on the weekend w potential accumulating snows. Having snow on Easter day will be something else, that's for sure.  Wow!

You know Easter was last Sunday?

[Tony]

Currently at 47F w cloudy skies. The rain has ended.

 

A potent system could threaten the area on the weekend w potential accumulating snows. Having snow on Easter day will be something else, that's for sure.  Wow!

 

You know Easter was last Sunday?

It's the Greek Orthodox Easter he is referring too. 

[gabel23]

I was out mowing yesterday and was able to catch a double rainbow after a brief shower passed by; I haven't seen one of these in a long time! 

[Andie]

87* tomorrow with lots of sun until Tuesday when rain returns in the forecast.

We should have a strong rain event from Tuesday-Sunday.

 

We could see 5"+. Amazing.

Perhaps we'll have another high rain year.

 

Looks like the models that indicate rain here this summer are right.

[Stormhunter87]

Dumping rain here with a little thunder. It's about done overall with flooding we actually need some rain.

[CentralNebWeather]

Central and Western Nebraska snow event potentially Monday night and Tuesday

[Iowawx]

GFS has very heavy rain in Eastern Iowa Tuesday into Wednesday.

[Hawkeye]

GFS has very heavy rain in Eastern Iowa Tuesday into Wednesday.

 

I would expect the heavy stuff to slide south with the thunderstorm complexes, but models have nudged back north today.

[OmahaSnowFan]

.84” of rain overnight here last night. More than doubled our total for the month which was nice. Frost advisory tonight....

[Stormhunter87]

.84” of rain overnight here last night. More than doubled our total for the month which was nice. Frost advisory tonight....

I want snow with this temperature drop lol. Nasty day bleh.

[Hawkeye]

The euro shifted the band of better rain and storms north into my area Tuesday/night.

[Tom]

[Andie]

Interesting observations Tom. You are so right about evacuation problems in California. They have knitted themselves into a corner in places. I have family in Tucson. Sun and heat much of the year. Too dusty and dirty for me. I'm a Texan and we love open green spaces, big trees and blue skies.

 

We are preparing for a wet week here. They've backed off from the 4-5" forecast and now it's more like 1-2". That's sounds more normal for this time of year. I think it will be a wet spring and into summer for us.

Very windy today as well.

 

May often delivers the strongest storms here so, we are all bracing for it.

[Stormy]

The euro shifted the band of better rain and storms north into my area Tuesday/night.

WPC also shifted north & hits se. Ia. hard with heavy rainfall the next few days. I might end up with normal rainfall yet for this month. Only had 2.55" so far & my average is around 4".

[Stormy]

Interesting observations Tom. You are so right about evacuation problems in California. They have knitted themselves into a corner in places. I have family in Tucson. Sun and heat much of the year. Too dusty and dirty for me. I'm a Texan and we love open green spaces, big trees and blue skies.

We are preparing for a wet week here. They've backed off from the 4-5" forecast and now it's more like 1-2". That's sounds more normal for this time of year. I think it will be a wet spring and into summer for us.

Very windy today as well.

May often delivers the strongest storms here so, we are all bracing for it.

May is peak tornado season for the USA as a whole as well. Of course it varies from year to year.

[Iowawx]

HRRR has Cedar Rapids getting about 1.25" of rain tonight. I hope that verifies! 

[james1976]

Looks like a wet couple days to close out April.

[Andie]

Same here. The potential exists for some strong storms Tuesday -Wednesday.

We could see 1-3" of rain. That's on top of the 6.74" we've already received at DFW Airport. This April stands to be the 12th wettest on record. We'd have to exceed 17.64" in 1922 to beat and thankfully, that won't happen.

 

Storms could be severe. We'll have to see how this shapes up.

Lots of moving parts in this, but we'll likely get wet. It's a matter of degrees.

[Hawkeye]

HRRR has Cedar Rapids getting about 1.25" of rain tonight. I hope that verifies! 

 

The latest run has 1.75".  The 3k nam this afternoon also has quite a bit of rain here.  The global models have been weak with tonight's rain, showing only a few tenths.

 

Radar shows some decent showers firing over central Iowa.

[East Dubzz]

Had no idea there was even a chance of rain again tonight, but looks like we should get a nice little rainfall overnight..

[Stormy]

Rainfall continues attm. Got well over 1" so far. Occasional lightning & thunder most of the night. The heavier convective elements stayed one county south after midnight though we got in on some of that late last eve. A big blob of moderate rain trained overhead though.

[East Dubzz]

Picked up an additional 0.41" of rain overnight. That'll give me 3.92" of precipitation for the month of April. 

[Hawkeye]

The more aggressive CAMs(hrrr/nam), which were showing 1.50" up to Cedar Rapids, were a bit too far north.  I picked up 0.75", which is still a nice soaking.  Iowa City received twice that.

 

It would be nice if we could get some decent temps back, but that doesn't look likely until later in the week.  I had to bring a bunch of plants back inside.

[Andie]

North Texas has the potential for rain for the next 6-7 days.

High Temps will range from the high 70's to mid 80's. Prime Spring storm conditions.

 

It looks like the Southern Plains are in the storm window with Oklahoma joining the party.

We'll see how the severe storm picture sizes up as the dry line moves in.