textproduct: Des Moines

KEY MESSAGES

- Showers possible this afternoon and tonight. Expected to be light.

- Seasonal to cool much of this week with a few chances for precipitation on Wednesday and late Thursday.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH WEDNESDAY/

Issued at 345 AM CDT Tue Apr 28 2026

Stratus that was over much of the state last evening is beginning to clear over the northwest third of the state and that trend will continue through this morning as northwest steering flow continues to usher it out of the area. Light drizzle that was occurring with this stratus has mostly ended as the weak vertical ascent within the stratus layer has further stabilized.

The challenge for today is precipitation chances later this afternoon and overnight. Two PV anomalies are being highlighted on the PV 1.5 pressure surface and water vapor imagery. The first anomaly is over southern Utah while the other over southern Idaho. Those two pieces of energy will move towards Iowa today and will bring kinematic forcing aloft this afternoon over the south and farther north into the evening as the second system arrives. This system does have attendant mid-level Pacific moisture advecting in to the state that will help saturate profiles aloft. Therefore, have increased PoPs over the area. PoPs may need to be trended even higher if confidence in saturation increases.

LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY/

Issued at 345 AM CDT Tue Apr 28 2026

The rest of the week forecast is tracking low precipitation chances at times. A robust short wave moving over south central Canada will evolve in a closed upper low over the Great Lakes on Wednesday that will lead to troughing over the Upper Midwest followed by northwest flow. This flow along with broad high pressure will effectively close off any northward flow of Gulf moisture through this week. Any mid-level moisture contributions will be quite limited so systems will be reliant on attendant residual moisture. Two more short waves will be moving thorugh this flow, with one arriving on Wednesday and another late Thursday. Therefore, low PoPs have been assigned to each period for now and will continue to assess moisture availability and dry air impacts. Temperatures will be seasonal to cool this week and there may be a few opportunities for frost/freeze, especially over northern Iowa. A bit warmer temperatures for the weekend as the steep northern flow relaxes.

AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z WEDNESDAY/

Issued at 636 AM CDT Tue Apr 28 2026

Widespread MVFR stratus is currently clearing out of the state but may linger around KOTM through 13z. VFR CIGs are currently expected to prevail through the period, but some signal exists for near-MVFR CIGs this evening in the central part of the state. There is a chance for showers after 00z at KDSM/KFOD but probs are too low to include.

DMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.