So far this year, the weather has been interesting to say the least.

State Climatologist Justin Glisan says that with the different systems that have moved through, knowing what’s next has been something that’s kept climatologists and meteorologists on their toes. He mentions that now that the El Nino system is beginning to fade, things become more predictable though.

Glisan tells Raccoon Valley Radio what the current outlooks for coming weather are.

“We’re coming off a strong El Nino, and for your listeners, strong El Nino means warmer sea temperatures in the Eastern Pacific that fire thunderstorms. These thunderstorms impact where the jet stream sets up over the United States, and hence the storm track. So in years in which we’ve shifted from strong El Nino winters into what we call enso neutral spring, or in between El Nino and La Nina, and then the possibility of a weak to moderate La Nina in the summertime. When we consolidate those years and take averages, we actually see kind of what the outlooks are showing.”

Glisan explains that this means that Iowa for the most part should see near normal to slightly wetter conditions from now into the month of June. He adds that while wetter conditions could be in the forecast, warmer conditions are as well. Glisan mentions this is important because over the last few years the state has generally been below average for moisture levels from April to July, the four wettest months of the year.