(Area) After a wet stretch at the end of October, the weather has dried out and warmed up.
State Climatologist Justin Glisan looks for more of the same dry conditions to continue this week which will accelerate the harvest progress. “We are shifting back towards an elevated signal for warmer temperature and also a dryer signal. Dryer and warmer weather should allow farmers to get out there and finish harvesting corn and beans.”
The November outlook calls equal chance of above, below, or near average expectations for both temperature and precipitation. As we approach the winter months, Glisan weighs in on the snowfall chances. “We actually seeing a La Nina signal develop and we saw this behavior last winter. There’s an elevated probability of wet conditions across the Ohio River Valley and up into the Great Lakes and over the Pacific Northwest. Dry conditions across the southern part of the United States and Iowa just so happens to be right in the middle of all of that.”
Last winter averaged out to be one degree warmer than normal, but was the 12th snowiest winter in 134 years on record. Much of the snow fell in the northern portion of the state.
