Holiday weekend high temps break, tie heat records

The sweltering temperatures over Memorial Day weekend were some of the hottest Eastern Iowa has ever endured, according to the National Weather Service.

The three-day weekend's hottest day, Sunday, broke records with a high of 97 degrees Fahrenheit in Cedar Rapids. The previous record high was 94 degrees in 1914.

The heat across the region Sunday also broke records in Dubuque, Burlington and Moline, Ill.

'There were quite a few temperature records that were broken,” said Dave Cousins, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service outpost in the Quad Cities.

The National Weather Service has data on Cedar Rapids' temperatures dating back to the 1800s.

Iowa City's high on Sunday was 98, but the National Weather Service has observed temperatures there only since the mid-1990s, Cousins said, so it does not have enough data to identify a record temperature there.

At 3:30 p.m. Monday, after Memorial Day's temperature had reached its peak, Cousins said Moline's high was on track to break another record.

At 95 degrees in Cedar Rapids, Monday's high tied with the city's record temperature record in 1991, Cousins said. Iowa City had a high of 97.

Cedar Rapids' Saturday high of 90, meanwhile, didn't come close to 1978's record 96 degrees.

A high pressure system off Bermuda was drawing warm, humid air into Iowa over the weekend, Cousins said, which caused the heavy heat.

Looking ahead to the week, Cousins said 'with the humidity, it will still feel like temperatures are in the mid-90s.”

Some scattered storms also are expected.

'It's kind of a wet start to the week,” Cousins said.

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