Fair Weather

It's that time again! The Iowa State Fair is in full swing, and I'm very excited it's here.

It seemed as if the entire state was at the fair on Friday, August 9th.
This year will feature very enjoyable weather.

The excitement is partially because of the fun fair food, but mostly because that means it's time to gear up for another hunting season here in Iowa!

This year's fair will feature a below average temperatures along-side below average precipitation. Ironically not that much different from last years below average fair-time weather and we can thank the Jet Stream.

We are drying out again with many locations in central and
western Iowa 6" to 8" below average since June 1.

It all began during the 2nd half of July when the Jet Stream pattern shifted into fall gear. This has brought down weekly intrusions of cool air straight from the top of Canada! We've felt record cold lows mixed with mild afternoons, and to be honest, it's been rather refreshing. While we've been cool, northern reaches of interior Alaska have been baking near 90! Last week, Ft. Yukon topped 88F, and that extreme heat along the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains has tipped our temperature teeter-totter. The cold that is normally present in the northern reaches is pushed aside by that unusual northern heat, and it comes rushing into Iowa!

Although not unheard of, this early Fall pattern has brought unusually
cool air to Iowa.

I expect the pattern to continue for a little while, but that heat is on the move. It will take a week to 10 days, but it appears the middle to end of August will live up to the hot hype and summer will make another stand.

Like last year, acorns are dropping early in some spots. Whether its the
recent dry spell or the cool, this is sure to affect your
early season hunting spots.

Don't be surprised if this fall is as wild as last fall was! Iowa will once again be in line for some pretty extreme swings. We'll talk about that trend and I'll give this season's long-shot forecast within a few weeks. Until then, have a great time at the Iowa State Fair. Bow season is only 7 weeks away!