(Des Moines) The weather pattern is stuck in a strong El Niño. State Climatologist Dr. Justin Glisan says an El Niño is the warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean surface along the equator. Glisan tells KSOM/KS95 News that this affects the atmosphere, leading to more thunderstorm activity in the eastern Pacific, impacting the large-scale flow across the United States. This weather phase shows a stronger correlation with weather behavior than in the summer. He says summertime is driven by thunderstorm activity and is coupled to the large-scale atmosphere.
Glisan says we have seen this event in 1982, 1983, 1997, 1998, and from 2015 to 2016. Glisan says we will experience larger-scale impacts of El Niño from late fall into winter.
Meanwhile, Dr. Glisan says we are currently in a second heat dome for the next seven to ten days. He says we have seen a degradation of the first heat dome that occurred about 10 days ago, which pushed temperatures into the 90s and dew points in the upper 70s. Glisan says dew points are slightly lower, which could affect widespread corn pollination across the Corn Belt. He says timely rains are needed to stave off the moisture stress. Glisan says the good news is….
Glisan says temperatures are expected to be in the low- to mid-80s, with about an inch of rainfall over the state of Iowa.
