Jul 8, 2026
It's Swass season, y'all.
00:00:49 – This Day in Iowa Weather History: the 1984 temperature swing from 35°F frost at Elkader to 100°F at Shenandoah in 24 hours
01:19 – Weekly trivia question introduced: what's Iowa's record 24-hour precipitation total?
03:15 – Weather forecast headline: slight severe storm risk overnight, hot and mostly dry week ahead with highs in the low-to-mid 90s
04:12 – Extended climate outlook: hot and dry pattern dominates 6-10 day, and 8-14 day outlooks, with a Level 3 heat risk for northwest/western Iowa July 10-14
08:41 – Past week's weather recap: multiple tornado reports, wind/hail damage, and significant flash flooding over the July 4th weekend
11:09 – Breakdown of extreme rainfall totals from the holiday weekend, including a 12+ inch radar-estimated total near Elkhart and a 10.99" official CoCoRaHS reading in Polk City
11:16 – Guidance on food safety for flooded fields, including National Organic Program waiting periods (90/120 days) and FSMA considerations
15:16 – Why CoCoRaHS gauge density matters, plus a call for listeners to join the network
18:49 – Discussion of why the storm's rainfall was under-forecasted, tied to an upper-level disturbance disrupting the priorheat dome
22:04 – Revisiting "100-year" and "1,000-year" flood terminology and annual exceedance probability
24:23 – Specialty crop impacts: Phytophthora risk in wet cucurbit/pepper fields, growth-regulator herbicide drift symptoms in tomatoes/peppers, and distinguishing drift damage from broad mite infestation
27:03 – Tip on sanitizing surfaces efficiently using a hose-end sprayer
episode summary generated using claude.ai