The Iowa Environmental Mesonet (IEM) collects environmental data from cooperating members with observing networks. The data are stored and made available on this website.
Calm April Days
Posted: 24 Apr 2024 05:30 AM, Views: 896
Tags: wind april
Winds were again gusty on Tuesday with Des Moines topping 40 MPH for a peak gust during the afternoon hours. Many Iowans would likely claim that our Aprils have gotten windier than in the past. Recency bias certainly helps to reinforce this idea, but perhaps some data plots could help with this question. A recent tweet by NWSTwinCities pointed out the limited number of days this April that Minneapolis has had a peak wind gust below 30 MPH. The featured chart presents such a metric for Des Moines. Of course, the 2024 total is month to date, but it is still interesting to see the recent down trend in number of days and the 30 year running average is certainly trending in that direction as well. This chart generally points out the problematic nature of long term wind observations, with observation equipment and techniques being significantly different prior to modernization during the early 1970s. This likely explains the regime change with the plot happening near 1973. Anyway, back to this week and the forecast for Wednesday actually turns down the winds, but they will again be cranked up on Thursday.
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Previous Years' Features
2023: Chilly April Weekend
2020: Warm Rain
2019: Amazing to Talk Dryness
2018: Estherville Struggle
2017: Coldest Wind Chill
2014: Seasonal Precipitation
2013: '12-'13 Winter Storm #16
2012: Cooling Trend
2009: A few missed out
2008: Southern Severe thus far
2007: Where's it raining?
2006: A perfect 10
2003: More April Showers...
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Soil Temperatures
Data from the Iowa State Soil Moisture Network is found on this website and daily soil temperature averages are used to produce the highlighted analysis.