The last day of August was quite hot with high temperatures in the upper 80s and 90s with dew points well into the 70s for Iowa. Summer is certainly not ending with the calendar now turned into September with a number of hot days yet to go. Having high temperatures around 90 degrees for the first of September is nothing too out of the ordinary and in fact, is about the average last date of the year for such a temperature. While the featured chart looks like a funnel, it isn't necessarily a "funnel plot" as the feature title suggests. The plot shows the period each cold season between the average last and first day of the calendar year at a given high temperature for Ames. The chart nicely shows a general rule of thumb for fall Iowa with with the last 90 around 1 September, the last 80 around 1 October, and the last 70 around 1 November. This chart can be kind of depressing if you like the warm temperatures as it shows how long it takes for them to return during the spring season!

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