IOWA — We are transitioning from excessive heat to severe storms and heavy rain for the week ahead. It will all get started today. The ridge that brought the high temperatures and heat index values will drop south, allowing the storm chances to increase for Iowa.

As the storms begin to develop along a cold front in northwest Iowa this afternoon and move into Central Iowa by early evening, a few storms may be severe. Most of Central Iowa is a part of a slight risk area today and tonight. With the front stalling out across Iowa through the remainder of the week, we will see periods of rain and storms, and there will still be a marginal risk of severe storms the rest of the week.

While there is the potential for severe storms on Monday, the window may be brief and right as the storms are first developing. The tornado threat is very minimal. If we get colder air to pool in the upper levels, this may lead to a more damaging wind threat later into the evening.

The bigger threat may be the heavy rainfall with these storms. The available moisture is quite high in our atmosphere, so some storms may be heavy rain producers and could lead to flash flooding through the night and early Tuesday morning. These totals below will vary, depending on where the storms set up, but a range of a quarter inch of rain to 3″ in isolated areas is possible through morning.

For a full look at the forecast through the rest of the week, visit our WHO 13 Weather Page here.