Gazette Daily News Briefing, July 24
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for Monday, July 24.
We have now thoroughly entered the dog days of Summer, but someone also invited a heat dome to come over. More on that in a second.
It will start out a bit foggy in the Cedar Rapids area between 4 and 8 a.m. After that it will become mostly sunny, with a high near 91 degrees. There will be a 30 percent chance of thunderstorms Monday evening with a low near 68 degrees.
Now a heat dome is a very hot air mass that forms when high-pressure conditions in the atmosphere trap warm air from rising, creating a cap. One has plagued much of the U.S. — from the Southwest into Texas — since early June. This week, it’s projected to spread farther north and east as jet streams shift north.
Projections are placing Eastern Iowa on the northeastern edge of that heat dome expansion. Meteorologists from the National Weather Service’s Quad Cities Bureau estimated the region has a 20 to 40 percent chance of getting enveloped by dome.
Regardless of its spot in the dome, Eastern Iowa will very likely start seeing temperatures surpassing 90 degrees by Tuesday. The area may see temperatures in the mid-90s Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. It will likely bring the hottest days of the summer so far.
“The question then becomes whether or not we hit the magic triple-digit” air temperatures, NWS Quad Cities bureau meteorologist Brian Pierce told the Gazette.
If Eastern Iowa remains on the dome’s outskirts, it's in for a wetter week. Thunderstorms may roll through the area in the night, potentially bringing several rounds of heavy rain. Thursday and Friday night show decent chances of some precipitation.
It will likely grow warm in the daytime, but temperatures may not get as hot as they would under the full force of the heat dome. Still, any rain would make the area more humid, which would raise heat index values or “feels like” temperatures.
A man and a woman from Cedar Rapids died Friday after the canoe they were in tipped over at Lake Macbride in Solon.
The victims were identified as Suad Al Yasiri, 28, and Willie Davis, 23, both of Cedar Rapids.
Neither Yasiri nor Davis was wearing a life jacket. They were transported to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for an autopsy.
A 911 caller reported seeing two people disappear under the water at 3:44 p.m. at Lake Macbride State Park, according to a news release from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.
Emergency crews deployed boats to begin the search. Through the use of sonar, the victims were located in approximately 23 feet of water, the release states. One victim was recovered by the Johnson County Metro Dive Team at 6:50 p.m., and the other at 7:04 p.m.
