Drought Continues...

Parts of the QCA are in a SEVERE DROUGHT! Here's an update that just came out today from the National Weather Service and its partners...Making matters worse is a lack of substantial rain in the next week's forecast! Click here to read more from the NWS: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/dvn/?n=drought

Busy Tropics...

There's a lot going on in the Atlantic basin right now, as we approach the peak of the 2011 hurricane season! Typically the peak is around Sept 10th or so, and it looks like we'll have a few things out there worth watching over the next few days! It still looks like Katia will be missing the East coast as it curves out to sea. However, Tropical Storm Nate has formed now and this storm could make landfall as a hurricane along Mexico's coast, or along the US coast sometime early next week!





Nate's path is uncertain right now!

Quad Cities Sunset

Here's a nice pic from our Skycam tonight! It's going to be another clear and cool night in the QCA!

A Very Cool Labor Day!

What a beautiful day in the Quad Cities! And what a perfect day to celebrate Labor Day! I'm sure lots of people are grilling out all across the QCA today with sunshine and highs in the upper 60s! This is the coolest Labor Day we've had since 1974 - when it topped at at a very chilly 57°!

Keeping an Eye on the Tropics...

Tropical Storm Lee made landfall along the Gulf Coast over the weekend. Lee is dumping heavy rains over the same areas because the system is moving so slow.

As of Sunday night @ 9 pm, Lee was only moving to the North @ 5 mph. Late Sunday Evening Lee was downgraded to a Tropical Depression with winds of 35 mph.




However, more trouble is brewing in the Atlantic Ocean. This weekend Katia became a Hurricane and is forecasted to intensify into a major Hurricane by Wednesday with winds exceeding 110 mph.

Right now, it appears that it'll just graze the Eastern seaboard but it's way to early too be certain. We'll keep you updated throughout the week online and on-air!

A Stormy, Soggy Saturday...

Despite it putting a damper on your Saturday plans, the rain that fell was desperately needed. Officially in the Quad Cities (As of 9pm), we picked up 0.82" of rain. However, Muscatine had over an inch of rain along with Iowa City.




The strongest storms moved through Fairfield, Burlington, and Galesburg Saturday afternoon. They also produced some strong winds and large hail.

In fact, a weather spotter reported hail the size of golf balls on Saturday afternoon in Fairfield, IA. There was one report of some wind damage in Abingdon, IL.

The rest of the holiday weekend will be quieter and drier with temperatures on the comfortable side!

Labor Day Weekend

Our Labor Day weekend is off to a hot start, and we'll see some rain over the next 24 hours...








But then we're looking just about perfect starting late Sat. night through Labor Day! Enjoy and be safe!

Updated Rain Forecast...

Here in the Quad Cities if we're lucky we'll see a nice soaking rain over the next 24 hours or so...as the HPC has us highlighted for about an inch of rain! Down to the South, along the Gulf Coast they're looking at more than a foot, and possibly 2 feet, of rain over the next 5 days! The tropical deepression I mentioned yesterday has now strengthened into Tropical Storm Lee! It's one to watch, not so much for strong winds as the heavy rain coming to Louisiana!

Ridiculous Rain Amounts!

Here's a rainfall forecast for the country for the next 5 days. In the Quad Cities if everything works out we'll see up to about an inch of rain (let's hope we do.) Portions of Louisiana could see up to 20 inches of rain though (maybe more!) There's a slow-moving tropical depression down in the Gulf of Mexico that should become a tropical storm in the next 24 hours and as it drifts North it will drop flooding rains over some places that are very very dry right now. In all my years of looking at this forecast product I don't think I've ever seen this wet of a forecast!

Drought Worsens

The drought gripping parts of the Midwest (including portions of our area) is getting worse! Conditions are especially bad just South and SW of the Quad Cities. For an extensive report from the National Weather Service on the drought in our area check out this link:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/dvn/?n=drought