Autumn Rain

National Weather Service Doppler Radar, Des Moines, Iowa, 2015Z (3:15 p.m. CDT)
Radar displayed using the Storm Lab radar display software from www.interwarm.com. This does not show the full capability of the software.

We have already broken the rainfall record for any single month with 13.90 inches as of 9-28-2018. With every new raindrop we set a new record. What makes this particularly interesting is the record is falling during September (a drier month) rather than June which is our month with heaviest rainfall. This radar image shows the beginning of a wet weekend for northeast Iowa. We will easily surpass the 14.00” mark today and with more rain possible into Tuesday we might get to 15 inches.

Altostratus at Cedar Falls, Iowa, 9-29-2018, Photo copyright Craig Johnson, Weatherbriefing.com

A solid altostratus deck covers the area today. This photo shows cloud banding that is parallel to the wind direction. It had been raining but for a moment the rain stopped and ceilings (cloud bases) lifted revealing the altostratus. Rain clouds producing steady rain are called nimbostratus. The picture below shows altostratus and nimbostratus in the same sky.

Altostratus and Nimbostratus, Photo Copyright Craig Johnson and WeatherBriefing