Northwest Iowa — Cooler, more seasonable weather is in our forecast this week, as last week’s extreme high temperatures in the upper 90s are giving way to the 80s and even the upper 70s.
Area crops appear to have weathered the triple-digit heat indices well, according to Brad Rippey, a meteorologist with the U-S-D-A.
There’s been fairly timely rain across much of the state throughout the growing season, he says, so there should not be fears of a crop disaster. Rippey adds, last week’s heat wave can’t be blamed on the La Nina weather pattern because it hasn’t really formed yet.
Looking back, Rippey says there have been three recent heat waves where crops in the region did very well: 2000, 2004 and 2014.
As rain moves in late on Wednesday and into Thursday, forecasters say we may see highs only in the upper-70s by the end of this week.
