With the calendar now turned into August, we have fully reached the last half of the warmest part of the year. Average high temperatures have been slightly above average for the June through July period. The featured chart looks into if this portends what may happen during the August through September period. The chart presents the yearly combination of average high temperature for Ames for the sixty days prior to and after 1 August. Of note for this plot are the quadrant frequencies, which indicate a persistence to having both periods either below average or above average each year.

Agronomy Hall at Iowa State University hosts a PurpleAir air quality sensor. Unfortunately, wild fires and the associated smoke continues to be a problem plaguing much of the country. The featured chart presents the daily range of PM2.5 (2.5 micrometers or less) Air Quality Index (AQI) for 2026. The chart colors represent the ranges of values associated with the given AQI rating. The wild fire smoke has certainly been noticeable over Iowa these past number of weeks. The hazardous levels were reached just over a week ago on 24 July.