Sunday was a very wind day over Iowa thanks to a deepening storm system to our west. For Des Moines, the peak sustained winds over a three hour period was 23 mph during the afternoon hours. The featured chart presents the IEM computed daily maximum three hour sustained wind speed for Des Moines. Note, this value is based on hourly reports and not a direct measure of sustained winds over the hour. The chart shows the annual cycle with peaks in spring and fall along with the minimum during summer. While thunderstorms can bring momentary bursts of 70+ mph winds, the sustained winds are powered by strong and large storm systems feeding off the sharp contrasts in air masses. These types of systems are not found around here in the summer time as the cold air masses are relegated well north. The two days shown over 50 mph were 3 April 1946 and 5 May 1950.

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Tags:   wind