RAGBRAI rolls from Ames and Des Moines today and the warmest weather of the trip across Iowa so far is forecast. Polk County (Des Moines) is under a Heat Advisory from noon to 8 PM. The featured chart takes a look at the duration of heat advisories for the county based on an archive of advisories back to 2005. These advisories can be extended in time, cancelled early, or upgraded to an Excessive Heat Warning. So the chart shows a cumulative distribution function for the initial issuance and final issuance duration. An eight hour advisory is about average for a duration, but some events can certainly last much longer. Today's advisory will likely depend on what happens with the morning storms over northern Iowa and how soon skies will clear out during late morning and early evening. Sometimes rain and clouds can persist for longer than expected and cut down on the high end heat, so hopefully that can happen today for all the poor bicycle riders who may only be joining the route to journey into Des Moines.

Voting:
Good = 10
Bad = 0