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Maximum Heat Index

29 Jul 2026 05:30 AM
While still quite humid, Tuesday felt much better than the oppressive humidity of the previous two days. Humidity levels, as measured by dew point temperature, were at or close to period of record maximum values for a number of airport stations over Iowa and beyond. It stands to reason that the heat index was at near record values as well. The featured chart presents the top 10 dates for maximum heat index for Des Moines. Only the highest value each day is plotted once, so this list isn't the top ten hourly heat index values, but top ten dates for highest heat index value. Anyway, Sunday and Monday are both shown on this list with Monday's 119.7°F (Temp: 94°F, Dew Point: 83°F) coming in second place. As an aside, the National Weather Service continues to work toward replacing heat index usage with an index called Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT), which takes more weather variables into account. The replacement is still more than a year or more away.

Voting:
Good: 13
Bad: 0

Tags:   heatindex   jul26  

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Yet Another Deluge of Rain

21 Jul 2026 05:22 AM
The area between Ames and Des Moines has had quite the July for heavy rainfall events. After an event on 2-3 July brought upwards of ten inches just northeast of Des Moines, another deluge of rain fell Monday evening (20 July) with roughly the same area targeted with the highest amounts. The featured map presents the combination of MRMS 24 hour precipitation estimates ending Tuesday morning with available NWS Local Storm Reports, COOP observations, and CoCoRaHS reports. The map will be updated later on Tuesday after more morning reports are received. While totals with this event were much lower than the one earlier this month, values over four inches are still rather exceptional and even more exceptional to have two such events over the same location during one year.

Voting:
Good: 23
Bad: 1
Abstain: 1

Tags:   jul26