Spot Forecast
Issued by NWS Des Moines, IA
Issued by NWS Des Moines, IA
130
FNUS73 KDMX 270901
FWSDMX
Spot Forecast for Lake Icaria West Refuge Unit...Iowa DNR
National Weather Service Des Moines IA
301 AM CST Fri Feb 27 2026
Forecast is based on ignition time of 0900 CST on February 27.
If conditions become unrepresentative...contact the National Weather
Service.
An initial observation at ignition and a mid burn observation are required.
Please relay them to the National Weather Service for each prescribed burn.
.DISCUSSION...
Elevated fire weather conditions are forecast today. Relative
humidity will drop sharply after sunrise, with minimum values
between 20 and 25 percent this afternoon. Winds will turn to
northwest by around midday, and increase to near 20 MPH with some
higher gusts in the afternoon.
.REST OF TODAY...
Sky/weather.........Sunny (0-10 percent).
Temperature.........45 at ignition...Max 67.
RH..................53 percent at ignition...Min 23 percent.
Wind (20 ft)........Winds southwest at 12 mph at
ignition...otherwise West winds 12 to 14 mph
shifting to the northwest 13 to 17 mph in the
afternoon. Gusts up to 28 mph.
Mixing height.......700 ft AGL at ignition...otherwise 2300 ft AGL.
Transport winds.....Northwest 20 to 29 mph.
Smoke dispersal.....Poor /12000 knot-ft/ at ignition. Max...good
/56400 knot-ft/.
GFDI................9 increasing to 18 late in the afternoon, then
decreasing to 10 late in the afternoon.
TIME (CST) 9AM 10A 11A 12P 1PM 2PM 3PM 4PM 5PM
Sky (%).........5 4 4 3 3 3 4 4 4
Weather cov.....
Weather type....
Tstm cov........
Temp............45 53 57 61 63 65 66 64 63
RH..............53 39 35 31 29 27 24 23 25
20 FT wind dir..SW W W W W NW NW NW NW
20 FT wind spd..12 14 14 15 15 16 17 16 13
20 FT wind gust.20 22 24 25 26 28 28 25 20
Mix hgt (kft)...0.7 0.9 1.2 1.3 1.6 1.9 2.3 1.8 1.3
Transp wind dir.W W NW NW NW NW NW NW NW
Transp wind spd.20 21 22 23 25 29 29 26 20
GFDI............4 8 10 13 15 18 20 17 10
Smoke Dispersal.12 17 22 25 35 48 56 42 22
Smoke Cat.......PR PR PR PR PR FR FR FR PR
.TONIGHT...
Sky/weather.........Mostly clear (20-30 percent) then becoming
mostly cloudy (50-60 percent) then becoming
partly cloudy (45-55 percent).
Temperature.........Min 29.
RH..................Max 81 percent.
Wind (20 ft)........Northwest winds 6 to 8 mph shifting to the east
8 to 12 mph overnight.
Mixing height.......400 ft AGL.
Transport winds.....Northwest 12 to 13 mph shifting to the east 16
to 17 mph overnight.
Smoke dispersal.....Poor (5800 knot-ft).
GFDI................4.
TIME (CST) 6PM 7PM 8PM 9PM 10P 11P MID 1AM 2AM 3AM 4AM 5AM
Sky (%).........4 7 14 19 23 13 17 35 41 53 58 49
Weather cov.....
Weather type....
Tstm cov........
Temp............58 53 49 46 45 43 40 38 36 35 33 32
RH..............30 38 48 55 60 62 67 70 72 75 78 81
20 FT wind dir..NW NW NW N N NE E E E E NE E
20 FT wind spd..8 7 6 6 6 7 8 9 9 10 10 12
20 FT wind gust.16 13 12 12 12 13 13 14 15 15 16 17
Mix hgt (kft)...0.8 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.8
Transp wind dir.NW NW N N N NE E E E E E E
Transp wind spd.13 13 12 12 13 15 16 16 16 17 17 17
GFDI............6 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Smoke Dispersal.9 8 7 6 6 6 6 7 8 9 11 12
Smoke Cat.......PR PR PR PR PR PR PR PR PR PR PR PR
.SATURDAY...
Sky/weather.........Mostly sunny (20-30 percent).
Temperature.........Max 48.
RH..................Min 42 percent.
Wind (20 ft)........Northeast winds 12 to 15 mph.
Mixing height.......2400 ft AGL.
Transport winds.....East 17 to 25 mph.
Smoke dispersal.....Fair (14700 knot-ft) early in the morning
increasing to good (35400 knot-ft) in the
afternoon.
GFDI................5.
TIME (CST) 6AM 7AM 8AM 9AM 10A 11A 12P 1PM 2PM 3PM 4PM 5PM
Sky (%).........43 48 35 21 17 12 8 7 6 5 9 14
Weather cov.....
Weather type....
Tstm cov........
Temp............31 30 33 36 38 42 45 46 47 46 44 41
RH..............78 78 69 61 57 48 43 42 42 43 45 48
20 FT wind dir..E E E E E NE NE NE NE NE NE NE
20 FT wind spd..12 14 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 14
20 FT wind gust.18 18 20 22 22 22 21 21 22 22 22 21
Mix hgt (kft)...0.9 1.1 1.2 1.4 1.7 1.9 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.2 2.1
Transp wind dir.E E E E E E E E NE NE NE NE
Transp wind spd.18 20 22 25 23 21 18 17 17 17 17 18
GFDI............2 3 4 5 5 6 7 7 7 7 7 5
Smoke Dispersal.15 19 23 30 33 34 34 33 34 35 34 34
Smoke Cat.......PR PR PR PR PR PR PR PR PR PR PR PR
$$
Forecaster...Lee
Requested by...Dray Walter
Type of request...PRESCRIBED
.TAG 2604129.0/DMX
.DELDT 02/27/26
.FormatterVersion 2.0.0
.EMAIL dray.walter@dnr.iowa.gov