Warmer Weather Arriving This Weekend

Memorial Day weekend may be the unofficial start of summer, but the warm weather won’t arrive until this weekend.

After temperatures much of this week below normal in the 60s and 70s, meteorologist Dave Cousins, at the National Weather Service in Davenport, says a heat wave will start to roll in today, with a steamy forecast for next week.

The forecast calls for much of Iowa to see highs Friday in the upper 70s and low 80s, with a gradual increase coming as the month of June nears.

Some long-time residents say it’s just not Iowa unless you run both the heater and the air conditioner in your car the same week, sometimes on the same day. Along with the relatively abrupt changes in temperature comes the risk of severe weather, so Cousins reminds Iowans to be “weather aware.”

In addition to the heat, it will be a little hazy over the next couple days. Smoke aloft from Canadian wildfires will overspread eastern Iowa today. The National Weather Service says some of the smoke may mix down to the surface and lead to reduced air quality, mainly during the afternoon and evening.

story contribution courtesy of Radio Iowa; image courtesy of NWS