The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) has a slight risk of severe storms over Iowa today as it finally appears that organized precipitation will happen this month! It would seem that a severe thunderstorm or tornado watch will be possible for portions of northern Iowa sometime this afternoon, so it is a good time to check in on a watch issuance metric! The featured chart presents the number of SPC issued watches for the year to date period, those whose watch polygon box overlap Iowa, and the percentage between the two. It is interesting to see how the 2024 total for Iowa is the highest since 2011, but almost every year prior to 2011 was higher than 2024. A caveat is that watch methodologies have changed somewhat over the years and this plot is using the unofficial, but still a close approximation, polygons instead of counties. It is still interesting to see that roughly 10% of all watches touch the state in some manner.

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Tags:   spc   watch