Severe weather continues to be a watch item Monday across the Midwest, however the forecast is a little complicated with some modeling backing off the widespread storm threat previously advertised. A Level 3 of 5 Risk, an Enhanced Risk, extends across Iowa, northwest Illinois, southeast Minnesota and much of Wisconsin. The primary concern is damaging wind gusts. Of note, a lot of vulnerable people are in Oshkosh this week. Make sure to watch the forecast closely and react to

A weak mid-summer cool front may bring some storms to my southern counties Sunday evening, especially along and south of HWY 30. Meantime, predominantly dry weather prevails across the rest of my area. The front itself has already brought some relief to my northern counties around HWY 20 in the form of cooler temperatures and lower humidity levels. Highs there remained below 90 for the first time in 6 days and dew points slipped out of the 70s into the mid 60s. At 4:00pm Sund

I noticed on Monday evening's sounding that the 500mb height contour in Minnneapolis reached 6,010 meters, which according to unofficial IEM archives is the highest height on record for the Twin Cities. It beat the 5988 meter reading that was achieved August 22nd of 2023. An extrememly warm lower atmosphere like we've seen this week will vertically "push" the height of a pressure surface further away from the ground, in this case all the way to the jet stream. Meteorologists

Here in the Midwest it seems as though it's getting harder and harder to regulate our weather. While it's true averages are comprised of extremes, we seem to lean more towards the extremes in recent years. Like it or not our climate is evolving to warmer temperatures, (especially sea surface temperatures) which is leading to increased water vapor. It's a physical fact that increased CO2 (carbon dioxide) warms the planet. It's also proven that warmer air holds more water vapor

We are fully under the influence of high pressure with the ridge holding form, for now, across the central US. Temperatures will continue to hold steady in the low/mid-90s through the week with limited rain chances to accompany it. In the short term humidity isn't too terrible, however dewpoints will likely continue to increase with 70s likely by midweek into Saturday, which will bring a return to those triple-digit heat indices. However, as noted over the weekend, the ridge