textproduct: Des Moines

KEY MESSAGES

- Reintensification expected along a cold front moving across Iowa this afternoon and early evening. A few strong to severe storms may produce gusty winds a pockets of heavy rain. Showers linger across southern/southeastern Iowa through Wednesday morning.

- More seasonal temperatures in the upper 70s to low 80s the rest of this week.

- Additional thunderstorm chances later Friday into Saturday and again Sunday into early next week.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH THURSDAY/

Issued at 225 AM CDT Wed Sep 9 2026

Showers and storms are currently ongoing across central and southern Iowa after an entire evening of thunderstorms. Most of the rain has fallen by this point, with totals near 2-5 inches near I80. LLJ momentum deceleration will continue to drive elevated storms across southern Iowa this morning, and another 1" may fall. Flash flooding and stream rise concerns will continue in the metro for the next couple hours for flash flooding and through the day today for stream flooding. The axis of these storms will continue to drift south through the morning and begin to weaken around and after sunrise with the fading LLJ, and look to move out of the state around 15z. Some clearing is being observed already on the backside of the storm complex, mainly in northwest Iowa. Winds are calm and low levels are well saturated, so any extended period of clear skies will allow for some patchy or even dense fog to form. This is already ongoing in far northwest Iowa, and fog may begin to form further south into our CWA towards sunrise as clearing of upper level clouds extends across most of northern Iowa.

Higher pressure and drier air pushes in and brings a period of mild weather today. Some scattered showers and perhaps a thunderstorm could linger through midday today in southern Iowa, but it should otherwise be dry across the majority of the state. Mid and upper level clouds are also expected to clear through the day. Highs in the lower 80s are expected today with lows falling into the 50s and 60s.

A 500mb shortwave moves through the flow across the state on Thursday, though dominant high pressure and dry profiles will limit any precipitation potential. In fact, even any cloud cover will be hard to come by on Thursday. Sunshine and full mixing of the overnight inversion should allow for highs to reach the low 80s again.

LONG TERM /THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY/

Issued at 226 PM CDT Tue Sep 8 2026

After a drier period Thursday and much of Friday, our next system arrives later Friday into Saturday as a deepening shortwave traverses the area. SPC has outlined a Day 4 risk area for this as a plume of instability increases in conjunction with better kinematic forcing. Another more robust system looks to move across the area Sunday into early next week. Both system will help to bring temperatures down and by early next weeks highs may be in the upper 60s to low 70s areawide.

AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z THURSDAY/

Issued at 1041 PM CDT Tue Sep 8 2026

Showers and storms are continuing to clear through the area which will mainly impact KDSM and KOTM through the night. If a stronger storm is over either of these TAF sites, IFR visibility restrictions are possible. This has been handled in TEMPO groups which highlight the most likely period for stronger storms over the terminals. Otherwise, across northern terminals, patchy fog is possible leading to visibility reductions at KMCW and KALO. The signal for fog is weaker at KFOD at this time. A front will pass through the state through the day tomorrow, leading to winds from the northwest towards the later half of the period. With this, higher ceilings above FL100 are expected.

DMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.