FAIRBANKS, Alaska - A University of Alaska researcher plotted temperatures from the Iowa State University Mesonet and found Iowa is near the top of extreme temperature differentials so far this year.
Brian Brettschneider, with the International Arctic Research Center in Fairbanks says he got the idea of plotting the high and low extremes when he saw some of the summer heat indexes coming in, and remembered seeing some -50 and -60 wind chills in Northern Iowa and Minnesota this winter.
The National Weather Service in Iowa agrees with Brettschneider's observations.
"From -30 and -40 wind chills early this year to heat indexes over 110, 115." Says National Weather Service meteorologist Jeff Johnson, looking at the Des Moines temperatures, a difference of 156 degrees. He says it's one of the worst years he's seen.
It's a little bit unusual, I mean I've seen it before, but this is about as extreme as it gets." Johnson said.
But, he says he doesn't think it indicates any significant change in our weather patterns.
"I wouldn't want to draw any more conclusions that than." He says. "It's just a coincidence."