Record Highs, Ice Fishing Woes and Drought

Record highs are expected in central Iowa Monday, Jan. 30th as spring-like weather will be replacing the "dead" of winter. Central Iowa has already hit 65 this month (Des Moines, January 5th) one of two record highs we've broken so far in 2012. 57 set back in 1988 should be replaced with low to mid 60s for a high in Des Moines today.

Temperatures have been on a wild roller coaster this winter, but if one thing has been consistent it's warmer-than-average temps! As of January 29th, Des Moines is tied for it's 4th warmest winter on record. During what is typically our coldest month of the year, we have been running 5-10 degrees above normal highs.

This significantly impacted late season hunting as warm weather threw game into nocturnal movements and subtle daylight patterns. Many hunters are concerned with Iowa deer populations declining, but the mild winter should allow a higher than normal survival rate and more deer for next year. Meanwhile, ice fishers have been experiencing some of the toughest ice conditions in years with a late-season onset of hard water. Ice thicknesses are borderline safe and with the type of temperatures in the 7-day forecast, it might be time to break the boat out from winter storage. Ice conditions could become quite dangerous by the middle to end of the week.

Along with this warmth, we've been seeing the dry conditions expanding. Moderate to severe drought has been strengthening it's grip in the NW 1/3 of the state. A dry spring on the heels of the winter we've seen could set the stage for a hot/dry summer here in Iowa.

Hunting seasons are winding down, so we'll soon shift focus to fishing, spring turkey and morel mushrooms. Coming up later this week I'll have a hunting season in review blog about some of the valuable lessons I learned this year with weather and hunting.