On the afternoon of May 21, 2024, a tornado tore across Iowa. It formed in the state’s heartland, gray and wide above the cornfields. Then it began to barrel directly toward the National Weather Service office in Des Moines. According to Iowa State University meteorology professor William Gallus, the station had a plan. “If a […]
Iowa weather
Posted inCommunity/News
Peak Iowa: Storm names coined in the state
It’s probably best not to dwell on what it says about life in Iowa that the names of two fearsome types of weather originated here. But in 1870, a northwest Iowa newspaper attached an already violence-laced word to the most violent sort of snowstorm, and 18 years later, a former UI professor borrowed the Spanish […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa was one of eight states setting records during the country’s ‘warmest winter on record’
The seasons don’t officially change until next week when the spring equinox occurs at 10:06 p.m. (central time) on Tuesday, but meteorological winter is already over and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has now confirmed what seemed obvious on many days these past few months. “Meteorological winter was the warmest winter on record for […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Mindy Mejia’s latest thriller is inspired by her own Iowa-based trauma
Mindy Mejia was only at the University of Iowa for one year of undergrad, but she still remembers the storm. “During one trip back [to UI] to visit friends, I actually got caught in an ice storm, so very similar to the setting of the book,” the Minnesota-based author recalled. “Everything was shut down, only […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Essay: A Floridian encounters beauty, love, bad weather and discomforting deja vu in Iowa
I knew nothing about Iowa before I knew it was taking my partner away from me. The original plan was to break up at the end of the summer, before college; four years later, we’ve somehow made the long distance work. The first time I visited Billy in Iowa was fall 2019. Since then, I’ve […]
Posted inCommunity/News
KCCI chief meteorologist resigns after receiving death threat for discussing climate change
This story originally appeared in LV Daily, Little Village’s Monday-Friday email newsletter. Sign up to have it delivered for free to your inbox. KCCI chief meteorologist Chris Gloninger announced on Wednesday he is leaving the Des Moines television station, citing family health issues and PTSD resulting from a death threat he received because of his […]
Posted inCentral Iowa
DART providing free rides to Polk County warming centers through Monday
DART will provide free bus rides to warming centers and overnight shelters in Polk County through Monday, as central Iowa experiences brutally cold temperatures. “Riders should tell bus drivers when they board that they want to go to the warming center or shelter,” the Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority (DART) said in a written […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Once Iowa storm chasers hunt down a supercell, there’s no turning back
As soon as Mark De Bruin had a car and a license, he was chasing storms. “Since I was a little kid, I would always go out on the porch and watch whatever storm came by my house, and I always just found them so fascinating,” said De Bruin, a junior meteorology major at Iowa […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Muggy out? Blame the corn.
As someone who grew up in semi-tropical south Louisiana, I didn’t think Iowa had anything to teach me about humidity. I was wrong. Iowa, of course, is the most corn-centric of the states. Last year, cornfields made up more than a third of its total landmass. And with corn comes corn sweat. Like other plants, […]
Posted inCommunity/News
There is no bad weather
Brother Snow. Sister Rain. Auntie Sunshine. Uncle Cloudy. Grandfather Cold. Grandmother Warmth. Cousin Storm. Mother Earth. Welcome to the family of weather — our kin. Ecological understanding is about wholeness, knowing that the earth — as a whole system, organism or being (what many call Gaia) — comprises diverse, interdependent beings (or organisms, if you […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Brock About Town: Upgrade your small talk
Hello, dear readers, and welcome to the weather issue. An apt theme, I think, as we barrel into what we here in Iowa very generously refer to as spring. In reality, it’s two months of light snow showers, punctuated with false hope. It’s particularly stressful for people like me, who do not and will never […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Record levels in the Iowa and Cedar Rivers raise concern for spring flooding
The Cedar River and Iowa River set record levels this winter for streamflow (the amount of water flowing), for the Iowa River as measured at the Iowa City, Marengo and Wapello gauges. Based on current conditions, service hydrologist and meteorologist Jessica Brooks of the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Davenport said the “abnormally wet […]
