It was a last-minute decision, but as Hurricane Isaias approached the Florida coast, I decided to take the day off and head for the impact zone in the Florida Panhandle. I had little time to prep my car, cameras and equipment - but in three hours I prepped everything I could to make the nine-hour drive from the Florida Space Coast to Mexico Beach, Florida - the first stop on my travels. On the way to the impact zone it was evident I was heading the right direction. Armies of

I could just post a sentence or two and that would cover the next week of weather across the Midwest. But I'll give you a little more than that, but trust me I am stretching. Starting off, not much really excited me until next week. We are watching a storm system in the Tuesday/Wednesday October 13-14 time frame that will likely be an abrupt pattern change bringing in much cooler temperatures and our next chance at meaningful rainfall. Strong upper-level support will usher in

After one of the wettest periods on record across the Midwest, we are taking a very nice break from the rain machine and turning quite dry heading through the first portion of October. Strong ridging aloft is bringing a northwest flow of dry air overhead and alloowing warmth to build in. Ensemble guidance early next week (above) shows some very strong anomalies - indicating temperatures 7-10 degrees above normal next weekend. The upper level pattern shows the strong ridging o

Now that we have a break from the relentless rain over the last week, we have some time to look longer range as some rather interesting weather patterns taking shape by late September and early October. Hurricane Polo has formed in the eastern Pacific Ocean and we are continuing to see signals of a rather large conveyor belt of moisture headed our way. Above, European Ensemble precipitation anomalies are pushing 200-400% of normal rainfall from Mexico, through the High Plains

After a very active couple of days, a break from the heavy rain is in sight. The pattern will remain in a bit of a holding pattern, but it should give way to drier conditions, especially Tuesday onwards Three-day rainfall (above) hit some remarkable levels for September across the area. Radar estimated across eastern Iowa, northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin topped 5" across a widespread area. SEPTEMBER RAIN - DUBUQUE SEPTEMBER RAIN - QUAD CITIES Month-to-date rainfall t