Weather

Across major corn-growing states, climate change is fueling conditions that make watching the corn grow a nail-biter for farmers. Factors like consistently high summer overnight temperatures, droughts and heavier-than-usual rains at the wrong time can all disrupt the plants’ pollination.

Meteorologists with the National Weather Service are warning Eastern Iowans that triple-digit heat indexes are coming this weekend.

More than 70 million Americans sweated through the muggiest first two months of summer on record as climate change has noticeably dialed up the Eastern United States' humidity in recent decades, an Associated Press data analysis shows.

July 2025 was the second-wettest July on record for Iowa. It's a welcome change from the past four summers, when the region was dealing with ongoing drought conditions and experts like Iowa State Climatologist Justin Glisan were the bearers of bad news when it came to rainfall forecasts.

Five years ago, destructive prolonged wind gusts of up to 140 mph blew through Iowa, felling trees, flattening crops, ripping down power lines and tearing away building walls and roofs. It was the most costly thunderstorm in U.S. history. Derechos aren’t uncommon. What made this one so destructive? And how are derecho forecasts improving?

Several rounds of expected storms beginning Saturday evening through Monday morning are expected to drop widespread 3 to 5 inch rain totals, The National Weather Service predicts.

The Iowa DNR had previously placed the alert through Friday due to thick smoke traveling south from Canadian wildfires

The Iowa DNR has placed an air quality alert for much of the state due to “moderate to heavy” smoke conditions. The alert will likely be lifted at midnight on Friday.

Strong storms that brought hurricane-force winds to an area stretching from the Upper Plains to the Midwest have been preliminarily classified by the National Weather Service as a derecho, defined as a long-lived line of storms with extreme winds.

Significant rainfall this month has continued to deplete drought conditions across Iowa. On Thursday, the U.S. Drought Monitor reported nearly 96 percent of the state is without any drought or abnormally dry conditions.

The National Weather Service is warning Iowans of “dangerously hot and humid conditions” coming to the region this week, forecasting the heat index could reach 110 degrees Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Following the deadly July Fourth flash flooding in central Texas, The Gazette spoke with Johnson County Emergency Management Coordinator Dave Wilson about emergency communications and how people can prepare themselves for natural disasters.