After Record-Breaking Rains, Dry Conditions Prevail
You may have noticed your front yard turning fall colors a little early.
That's because in some areas across the state, we've had less than two inches of rain the entire month of august.
"It's been quite the turn around for the month of august," said meterologist Brad Small. "We're just two inches shy of normal precipitation and that's only 44 percent of normal."
Small says the dry spell just seems extreme thanks to the onslaught of rain much of Iowa saw in May and June.
"The dry spell we've had recently is more of a top soil or shallow dryness," Small said. "If you look at the drought monitor for August, what we're up to at this point is pretty much normal for central and eastern parts of the state."
The weather service is predicting a mild and dry weather pattern through the next 90 days.
Despite the recent dry spell, we've already set a record high for precipitation for the year.
Baby Boomers Will Create Job Bust
Iowa's labor shortage is starting to put a crunch on the state's workforce.
Iowa will add about 2,000 jobs a month for the next several years while Baby Boomers begin to retire.
It means there could be a shortage of about 200,000 workers in the next 25 years.
Health care, computer science, manufacturing and business and finance will suffer the most from the shortage.

Once Upon A Time....
If you're in the mood for the Medieval days of castles and fairies, you're in luck as the Des Moines Renaissance Fair rolls into Sleepy Hollow Sports Park for its third year.
The park is alive once again with the past as the month-long fair kicks off.
"Here it is on the east side, we're actually on the Pleasant Hill border and what we have here is a complete medieval village with a castle, a castletown that we call Canterbury Sherwood," said event organizer Gregory Schmidt.
For kids, it's like stepping in a real live fairy tale.
Nearly a quarter of the people here are performers like the fairies who bring gentle smiles to kids' faces, and at least one troll keep children on their toes.
This weekend's theme is pirates; next week will be Highlanders as each weekend through September has a new theme.
"If you haven't been to this site before, everyone is overwhelmed by all the shops, the castle, the pirate ship stage, the fairy tree house," Schmidt said. "We have over 40 structures out here and Sherwood forests all in the shade."
The festival continues over the next two weekends.

Smile! You Could Be On A City Camera (Again)
Soon the red light cameras could be back on in Clive.
That's after an Iowa Supreme Court ruling.
It's another unsuccessful appeal by a Davenport man who challenged his city's ordinance when he got a speeding ticket there.
The high court ruled there's nothing wrong with cities like Clive having traffic cameras to enforce the law.
For the past year and a half, cameras along Hickman Road haven't taken any pictures of red-light violators. Once the Davenport case went to court, the city of Clive shut down the cameras to wait for a decision.
With the Clive council's approval, the cameras will be back up and running as early as the beginning of October. Officials say it's not about making money.
The short time the cameras were running, the city says they worked by cutting down on red light runners.
Clive says it'll give the public plenty of warning on when the cameras will be turned on again.

Don't Buck The System: Overdrafts Don't Make Cents
It can't be stressed enough about the importance of making sure your bank deposits have cleared before you start writing checks against the deposit.
That is even if your deposit is a government check.
Not waiting can cost you hundreds in overdraft fines, even if the check is good, as one Des Moines woman found out.
Kathryn Merkle deposited a government check at U.S. Bank on a Friday afternoon this spring and used her debit card to make some small purchases that weekend.
A total of 10 purchases added up to $152.60. She found out later funds were not immediately available even from a government check, but debits from her account were immediate.
The $467 check from the government cleared the following business day, but the bank took most of it -- $412 in overdraft charges.
U.S. Bank declined an interview but said in a written statement: "Checks issued by the government have the same funds availability policy because U.S. Bank takes as much of a risk with these checks as any other check; for example, a government check can be counterfeited."
U.S. Bank reduced the fine on appeal but still charged Merkle $328.
Merkle says it was a tough lesson, but maybe one that could save someone else the same trouble.