State Climatologist Justin Glisan says the spring of 2024 has been the eighth wettest spring in Iowa since 1872 — the first year weather records were kept for the State of Iowa. Glisan says it’s been a rollercoaster of weather for the past six months.
A warmer than normal winter — and especially January’s blizzard — had a role in setting the stage for a wet spring.
Glisan says it let the melting snow sink into the soil and early spring rains were able to soak in as well. The combination ended drought conditions throughout the state — after 204 consecutive weeks of drought. Glisan says it’s difficult to forecast severe weather far in advance, but warner and wetter conditions heading into this past spring did signal there’d be thunderstorms.
Glisan, though, points to long term forecasts that indicate Iowa is likely to see warm and wet conditions, so more thunderstorms this week. While there have been 116 tornadoes so far this year, only seven of them happened in June, which is typically the month when the most tornadoes strike in Iowa. Glisan made his comments during a weekend appearance on “Iowa Press” on Iowa PBS.
